Prunus persicaEarly. Uncertain origin. Pastor Chuck Orchards, Cushing, Maine.
Large juicy sweet yellow-fleshed freestone fruit. Lars Anderson’s son-in-law Waite Maclin (aka Pastor Chuck) brought this tree to our attention several years ago. Waite described the fruit to me as “tasting just like a peach should taste. When I give them away to friends and neighbors they think the peaches have been purchased in the South.”
Lars Anderson planted the tree on the Maine coast about 1965. He died in 1981 but the family continued to maintain the peach, even after a huge 1982 nor’easter blew the tree to the ground and split it in half. After the old tree finally succumbed in 2009, Waite sent us a monogrammed “slice” of trunk.
Currently being tested in Zone 4, but for now, it should be considered a Zone 5 peach. (3–6' bare-root trees)
Items from our perennial plants warehouse ordered
on or before March 7 will ship around March 26
through late April, starting with warmer areas and finishing in
colder areas. Orders placed after March 7 will
ship around late April through early-to-mid May, in the order in
which they were received.
ships in spring
7383
Lars Anderson
Additional Information
Peaches Prunus persica
Northern New England peach growing can be very successful. The trees
often
bear so heavily that the fruit needs thinning and the branches need
support.
Some winters can be hard on certain peach trees, and they may die. Other
trees live for many years. Replant and try again. They are worth the
trouble, and since they bear young, you won’t have to wait too
long!
Peaches are usually unaffected by pests or diseases in northern areas,
the
occasional exception being peach leaf curl. PLC is not
a
fatal problem but does need to be controlled if you get hit with it.
Look
for crinkled or puckered foliage in spring. Remove affected leaves and
compost them. Spray the tree with lime, sulfur or copper early the
following
spring while it is still dormant (before any buds open!) Onion, garlic
or
horsetail spray while leafed-out may also be effective. It’s
common
for peaches to have black gummy wounds. This is usually harmless and
happens
from any environmental stress, even when a bird or a bug looks sideways
at
the tree.
Mature trees will be 10–15' tall.
Growing Peaches
Soil: Prefers well-drained fertile soil.
Sun: Full.
Pollination: Self-pollinating. You only need one
tree.
Pruning: Prune in spring after the buds begin to
swell
and show pink. Remove dead and inward-growing branches. Make a few
bold
cuts to bring main branches closer to the trunk. After cutting back
any
main branches, thin last year’s shoots and cut them back to
about
12–18". When you’re done, the tree shape should look
something like an open hand reaching for a peach, with the tree not
much
taller than 10' or so.
The goal is to keep trees small and open. Peach
trees grow vigorously
each year and fruit on the previous year’s wood. Leggy
branches will break from the weight of fruit.