What could be more fun than picking a whole bowl full of peaches off
your very own tree in your backyard?
Picking a whole basket of peaches
off your very own tree in your backyard!
Peaches are self fertile, meaning a single tree will produce fruit without needing another one for pollination.
yum!
However, planting more than one variety with different chill hour requirements is the best way to be sure to have a crop, no matter how cold or warm our winter is.
Flavor and sweetness of your peach is determined more by how you feed your tree --- or not --- than it is by cultivar.
Ask us about our Magic Soil Formula for feeding fruit trees.
Florida peaches are much more geographically sensitive than pears, plums or even nectarines. They simply have a narrow window of chill hour requirements: so most have an adaptability range of 50-100 miles, and really should have a "maximum chill hour rating" too ---
but there is no such organized data 😀
Bearing age trees in
7g & 15g available
see below for details
IFAS chill hours map
For all of zones 8b & 9a:
FlordaKing Peach | FlordaCrest Peach | FlordaGold Peach |
|---|---|---|
 is a tasty, sweet, juicy peach: has a slight point on the end, and has a beautiful red blush on a golden yellow background. |  is a prolific producing peach, with medium sized red blushed fruit 2.5-2.75" in diameter. | produces an utterly delicious, large juicy peach 3" in diameter. Foliage is naturally a slightly lighter color green than the others. |
Ripens late May. | Ripens early May. | Ripens early to mid- May |
chill hours: 400-425 | chill hours: 300-350 | chill hours: 325-350 |
for zones 8a, 8b, 9a | for zones 8b, 9a | for zones 8b, 9a |
Other peaches for lower parts of zone 9a:
(includes south of Gainesville to north of Orlando & Tampa)
Red Baron Peach | FlordaBest Peach | FlordaBelle Peach |
|---|---|---|
 is a large, 3" diameter, low chill peach for all of zones 8 & 9; late bloomer, ripens in July --- the latest of the low chill peaches; long time favorite in CA & TX, |  Another 3" diameter juicy peach developed by IFAS for North Central and Central Florida. Beautiful yellow with strong red blushing, ripens weeks earlier than FL King or FL Gold. Semi-freestone. |  Juicy 3" peach much like the FlordaBest, but ripens about a week earlier, third to fourth week of April. Profusely flowers in early February. High yielding variety. |
Ripens mid- to late-July. | Ripens late April to early May. | Ripens mid to late April |
chill hours: 250 | chill hours: 250 | chill hours: 200 |
for zones 8a, 8b, 9a & 9b | for all of zone 9a | for zones 9a & 9b |
Tropic Snow Peach | ||
 | Tropic Snow is the only white peach available in the low chill varieties. | Ripens mid to late April, same time as the FlordaBelle.
|
Peaches for zones 9b & 10a:
(includes pockets around Orlando & Tampa, and even Jacksonville near the St Johns)
Florda Prince Peach | Tropic Beauty Peach | UF Sun Peach |
|---|---|---|
 One of the most widely planted low chill peaches. Officially listed as a 2" peach, but we've seen 2.5-2.75" peaches in our nursery, when grafted on Nemaguard rootstocks.
|  Tropic Beauty is a beautiful red skinned peach with melting flesh. Highly prolific, medium sized peach at 2-2.5" semi-freestone |  UF Sun is the lowest of the low chill peaches at 100-125 chill hours; #1 choice for South FL |
Ripens early to mid-April. | Ripens early to mid- April | Ripens late March to mid-April; |
chill hours: 150 | chill hours: 150 | chill hours: 100-150 |
for zones 9b-10a | for zones 9b-10a | for zones 9b & 10a |
Call us to order or
Order online below:
not all varieties available in all sizes:
please call or email to check availability before ordering
NO TEXTING!
our 4 most popular varieties:
FlordaKing Peach: Prunus persica 'Flordaking'
FlordaGold Peach: Prunus persica 'Flordagold'
FlordaBest Peach: Prunus persica 'Flordabest'
FlordaPrince Peach: Prunus persica 'Flordaprince'
Beginning Bearing Age in 7gal >>> REG 7G $49 & X-LG 7G $69:
see specs in chart below
Want a serious orchard size tree now?
order 15gal / $99 & X-LG 15G $135
15G: 7'-8'+ /3.5-4.5' wide / 1.25"
super 15g: 9-11' tall / 4.5-5' wide / 1.5" trunks
4gal
1-2 yrs+ to fruit
5-5.5' tall / after trimming
- very little branching yet
- 3/8-1/2" trunks above the graft
- wait at least one year b/4 allowing fruit sets to mature on this size tree
$29ea
selections limited to Florda Gold, FlordaPrince & Tropic Beauty
7gal
beginning to fruit
approx 5.5-6' tall
- beginning to branch
- 3/4" trunks above the graft
- "de-leadered" i.e. properly pruned for optimal shaping
$49ea
no Red Barron
or UF Sun
super7gal
good fruiting age
approx 6.5-7' tall
- nicely branching
- 1" trunks
above the graft
$69ea
no UF Sun
15gal
heavy fruiting:
Orchard-ready trees
some have already had fruit
8'+ tall / trimmed
- well branched
- 1.25" trunks above the graft
$99ea
limited availability:
call to verify 1st:
plenty Tropic Beauty
& FL Prince
Red Barron available for Fall 2021
super 15gal
serious bearing age
8-10' tall / trimmed
- well branched
- 1.5" trunks above the graft
$135ea
limited availability:
contact us to verify 1st
A few observations:
If you live in Zone 8b, 9a or 9b:
We recommend growing 2-3 varieties of peaches minimum to accommodate the vast variance in our winters. Milder winters will result in the Tropic Beauty bearing prolifically, while the FlordaGold or FlordaKing will thrive on much colder weather.
In severe winters, FlordaKing is the best bet in Alachua County and further north.
In pockets below Ocala and north of Orlando, it is crucial to consider if you are planting just north of a lake or south of a lake. North of a lake, the 200-250 chill hour peaches like FlordaBest & Florda Belle fruit more dependably. South of a lake, Florda Prince & Tropic Beauty will produce more, even though they are rated as 150 chill hours, and theoretically the same zone. Check out the IFAS chill hour map above: notice how vastly different the chill hours are in the short distance from Gainesville to north Orlando!
Ask us for input if you have any doubts about what to plant: we've watched these seasons come and go for more than a few decades in these parts.
The reason for all this winter temperature variance is this part of north and central Florida is what you might call a transition zone. It's an area where the cold fronts push in from the the north and northwest, and roll to a stop, equally balanced by the warm fronts rolling north, primarily from the southwest. Where those two forces collide changes with the wind faster than you can blink, and brings us 80 degree days followed by 20 degree nights in the same week at a moments notice in January and February.
Welcome to Florida!
Understand that young trees will not do as well with the weather extremes as more established trees. They simply need more root mass.
You may lose a Tropic Beauty altogether if you plant it and then get very late freezes the very first year it blooms (in zone 8b-9a like Alachua County).
On the other hand, a more established Tropic Beauty will survive well, but not have much fruit, if at all that year. But since you also planted a FlordaGold, you'll have a great crop of peaches anyhow!
Good for you! 😀
