BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?

Subject: Volunteer Peach Tree; edible?
From: CapriUni
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 11:00 AM

My dad made a nifty discovery this weekend.

You see, we (or rather, I used to, he still does) live on a large spread of land (27 acres), which is mostly woods and rocks, but which has a large area of lawn around the house... Now, as he's gotten older, my dad has stopped mowing most of this area and let it go to meadow -- for one, maintaining the golf course look is just too much trouble, and for two, it's so much more interesting to see what the grasses grow into when you leave them alone (but he still does mow right around the house).

Well, as he was mowing this bit on Sunday, he noticed a little tree over near where the woods start, up slope from the septic tank, and he noticed a peculiar something in its branches... So he mows himself a path over to get a closer look ... and low and behold! It's a peach tree, with its fruit turning a bright red and fuzzy... but as hard and inedible as baseballs

And we were wondering... the apples spread by Johny Appleseed were most likely hard and bitter as crab apples, because the sweet ones we eat sprout from grafts... is the same true for peaches, as well? Will these ripen into the sweet, juice-running-down-your chin variety? Or will they remain just really good food for birds?

In any case, Dad and I both think this is Nifty-Galifty!

Let's hear it for volunteers!

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: MMario
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 11:04 AM

Chances are that they will not be up to supermarket quality - but I don't think peaches are as variable as apples; I have heard far more success stories of people getting edible fruit from their peach pits then from apple seeds.

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: CapriUni
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 11:09 AM

That's my suspicion, too, MMario...

For one thing, a peach pit has a far more substantial (and primative) look to it than an apple seed.

And even with enough sugar and stewing, even crab apples make a very nice jelly...

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 11:16 AM

How neat, CU! Good for your dad!

I don't think they are that much like apples, either. If you let them get good and ripe maybe some of them will be sweet enough to eat.

We just moved in and decided not to mow our front yard. It seemed to be mostly weeds and some kind of dead-looking grass. We have irrigation water, but haven't set up the pump and pipes, yet. So, all summer we've just let it go. Now, we have about 20-30 volunteer poplar trees, some of which have grown to over 3 and 4 feet tall!

We were talking about moving them to the backyard for a nice screen, but have to wait until autumn. But, then Rog says maybe we'll leave them in the front and have a volunteer "Orphan forest!" I like that idea as well!

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: open mike
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 11:29 AM

perhaps it will take water to get them to be juicy. some fruit is grafted--one variety grown for hardy root stock and another for the quality of the fruit- if it doesn't bear tasty fruit, a variety of proven good peaches climatized for yoyur area could be grafted on! good luck. water it and see!

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 11:52 AM

You referred to ripening on the tree. As an alternative to that, since you say they're blushing red, harvest some, put 'em in a paper bag, and put 'em on the shelf for a while. You may be pleased with the result.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: MMario
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 12:18 PM

As I know from experience *some* varieties of peach blush red a long time before they finish ripening. Others don't blush until they ripen, and some never blush at all!

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: Dharmabum
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 12:22 PM

This reminded me of something that I was involved in one summer as a kid.

In late July of 64 I was an 11 year old living in what was then considered a pretty rural area of New Jersey. Our nieghbor had an apple orchard with a few peach trees growing around the edges. Well,one day while playing baseball with my younger brother (9)& my neighbors son (12), we had managed to work up a pretty good sweat & decided that a fresh juicy peach off of his dads tree would be just what we needed.

After two or three peaches each,someone suggested it would be great fun to see how many peaches we could devour, "BUT",leave the pits hanging on the branches!

Well,being all of a whopping 11 years of age,& having common sense manage to succsessfully elude me up to that point of my life,we proceeded to climb,hang,stand on each others shoulders or what ever it took to strip those branches of a large portion of their fruit.
All the while being ever so careful to leave those pits intact & hanging from their original stems.

We spent the rest of that day trying to suppress our laughter over our little deed.
Especially,when our neighbor discovered it & was immediately on the phone to our local ag agent inquiring as to what kind of insect could possibly have ravaged one of his peach trees in such a manner.

Now,as I'd mentioned,we lived in a rural area,& my brother,neighbor & I were the only boys in the immediate neighborhood,so it wasn't very difficult to find the culprit of whatever current mischief was being perpetrated.
But all indications we're pointing to the fact that we may just get away with this one. Barring the fact,of course,that one of us,although sworn to secrecy,may spill the beans.
There was however one equation that our adolescent minds had not factored in to our evil plan. And that very simply was that we were all doomed to get a bad case of the "Shits" at about the same time that very night.

Justice was swift.........in more ways than one.

Ron.

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: MMario
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 12:24 PM

*grin* reminds me of the time a friend and I sampled a few too many plums while harvesting; forgetting plums ain't nothing but juicy prunes!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: CapriUni
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 12:43 PM

Thanks, guys! I'll pass all this on to my dad...

I don't think he'll go the grafting-and-watering route, though, since he has pretty much adopted the "Let it be wild" philosophy for just about everything (including his beard, btw).

If he hadn't adopted that philosophy, the tree wouldn't be there in the first place!

Wonderful news about your poplar "forest," Kat! One thing you can be fairly certain about with volunteers: They won't need much "maintenance" to thrive...

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: MMario
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 01:10 PM

I have a volunteer something in the front garden - either a squash or a pumpkin won't really know until it sets a fruit. (okay - there is a faint possibility it could be a melon) Most likely a pumpkin. Anyway - it's been growing great guns, and a lot of MALE blossems - but no female blooms so far.

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: WyoWoman
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 01:55 PM

Well, the peaches aren't nearly ripe yet where I live (Midwest U.S.A.), although they're very peachy looking and beautifully colored. I figure we need at least another week or two of tree time before they actually ripen. So my guess is that these volunteer peaches are going to be just fine, if you're patient.

As for letting the yard recover from its previous golf-course perfection -- HOORAY!!! this is better for the earth, better for the water supply (less water, fewer chemicals from fertilizer, etc.) and better for the human soul, which loves wildness. For some good reading on the subject, read "Gaia's Garden," by Toby Hemenway (I think that's the right spelling). Lots of loveliness available without having a manicured lawn.

WW

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: IvanB
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 03:16 PM

Don't know how far north your are, CapriUni, but in the peach coountry of western Michigan, the earliest peaches will ripen later this month. And there'll be other varieties ripening all the way through the end of September.

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: catspaw49
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 04:27 PM

I'm eating zuchini tonite from a volunteer in the weed patch that used to be our garden......'Course any damn fool can grow a zuke! I'm hoping for some volunteer genitals in case I need to supplement things in my old age.............

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: CapriUni
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 04:35 PM

WW --

oh, don't worry, our yard was never at golf course perfection -- we never used chamicals, and never watered other than praying for rain... Dad just got tired of pretending that he was trying for a golf course in the first place... especially since our nearest neighbor is about 1/4 mile away, so there is no one to get offended... And even if someone would get offended by it, he wouldn't be bothered,

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 05:01 PM

Spaw, you'd be one up on Mick if you used a zuchinni in your thong instead of a spud like him!

Thanks for the info on the book, WW. We have a blank slate, so to speak, and want to do our best to keep it wild and inviting, with no mowing! I did that with a huge sideyard in CT, just let the grasses grow and go to seed and the kids, dogs, and birds just loved it. It was beautiful with a huge oak tree rising up in the center.

Nice thread, CU, thanks. Oh, and even though we've had some peaches come on here in Colorado, the peach fest isn't until the middle of August, so they aren't really there just yet, as others have said for their areas.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: CapriUni
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 08:36 AM

Just a note -- I passed all this info on to Dad... And he says "Thanks, Mudcatters!" (or words to that effect...

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: Mudlark
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 03:00 PM

Hi CapriUni...Here in central CA peaches are ripening fast. I've got two domesticated trees, one of which I've already stipped, the other still faintly green. Often the birds will let you know as they come in just before stuff is ready to pick, and do their own picking...or pecking.

There are a couple of very old and large apricot trees on the place, here when we bought it. One is clearly from volunteer stock, the other domesticated. The volunteer has smaller fruit, and way more "twins" (where 2 fruits grow from the same stem) but they are great for jam and freezing, and the tree does bear up better in dry hot years.

I was thrilled to find an almond volunteer down by the pasture fence a couple of years ago. It's yet to set fruit but the blooms in spring are already a delight...and plenty for me if that's all I get. Be sure to watch for peach blossoms next spring...they are so pretty.

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: Genie
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 09:59 PM

Well, Capri, I don't know about peaches. (Had a young one producing a few peaches in my back yard here in Oregon a few years back, but it couldn't survive two summers of drought and a harsh [by peach, and Portland, standards] winter.)

I do, however, have a very healthy volunteer bing cherry tree that sprang from the dropping of my big old, now defunct, non-volunteer bing. I assumed that the itty bitty cherries would be too sour to eat, but this year I tried some, and they tast just like their bigger predecessors. They're just too small to bother with harvesting in large quantitities. (Now I gotta figure out how to graft to the tree so I can get some decent sized fruit.)

I've also harvested volunteer tomatoes and tomatilloes, but I don't think the volunteer grapes that sprout from seeds will do much.

If your peaches eventually ripen, enjoy!

Genie

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 10:28 PM

Your peaches could be no worse than some of those in the stores. Picked at first blush and sent to market and never ripen properly.

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: NicoleC
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 10:29 PM

When we were kids, we had lots of land and my Dad bought a whole mess of very expensive hybrid fruit trees. Most took 3-4 years to fruit at least.

Mom, the frugal one, ate one of the peaches off the expensive hybrid tree and decided to plant a second peach tree by simply digging a hole and watering it, since the squirrels (and neighbors) managed to get most of ours.

Dad scoffed at how stupid she was. After all, it's not like trees just grow from seeds.

Mom's peach tree tuned out to be a completely different species (that's the hybrid for you), produced some fruit the first year and every year after that had twice the crop of the hybrid and were much juicier, better tasting peaches, although about 1/3 smaller. A couple of years later, the expensive tree developed some sort of disease and died -- the "seed" tree got the same disease but pulled through.

Even the squirrels liked the new tree better!

Who knows, you may have a gem growing in the woods. Tell Dad to keep an eye on it. When the peaches give a little to the touch, they're ready.

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: Dave Swan
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 10:42 PM

I spent many years in central California. I've irrigated friend's orchards and had trees in my own yard both intentinal and volunteer.

Here's what I learned. H20 is good. Peach trees love water on their roots. Keep it off the fruit. If it's a really hot day beware of pit burn, in which the pits overheat and cook the fruit. In excess of 100 degrees F., harvest and try to ripen the fruit on the shelf. In the absence of excessive heat, be patient and let the fruit get ripe and juicy. Best harvest at this latitude won't occur for another couple of weeks.

Eat one when it's warm off the tree and let the juice run down your chin. It's a peach.

D

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: CapriUni
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 11:47 PM

Well, just heard tonight: The fruit is very edible! This afternoon, Dad went out to the tree to check on it, and one of the peaches on the lower branches came off in his hand, so he figured it must be ripe... took it indoors to compare with a store bought peach, and tasted them both.

The volunteer was much sweeter, and juicier and all round yummier... Yay!

Okay, now here's a second question from me:

This is the first I learned how big the tree is (well over Dad's head), and that it is several years old. So why is this the first year that he noticed any fruit growing? It's at the edge of the yard, but it's not hidden, by any means -- and Dad's very observant, generally. Do some species of peach take several years to mature?

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: MMario
Date: 01 Aug 02 - 09:04 AM

It could well be the first year that it fruited. "Well over Dad's head" could still be only a three or four year old tree - and that would be about the right age for first fruit.

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: CapriUni
Date: 01 Aug 02 - 12:04 PM

Coolness, MMario! I didn't realize that peach trees grew so fast -- I'm used to watching oaks and maples and pines and things grow....

Do all friut trees grow that quickly?

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: MMario
Date: 01 Aug 02 - 12:28 PM

highly variable - but many "volunteers" shoot up quite quickly the first few years.

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: CapriUni
Date: 01 Aug 02 - 08:33 PM

interesting... Do you think it's because they're not hybrids, or grafted, but wholly themselves?

Or just volunteer enthusiasm? ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: MMario
Date: 01 Aug 02 - 08:44 PM

probably a combination of things - never any "root shock" - usually in weeds or scrub so have to "stretch" for the light initially - and then tend to keep going up as they haven't branched. Most fruit trees are pruned to cause low branching and prevent rapid upward growth.

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: CapriUni
Date: 01 Aug 02 - 10:54 PM

usually in weeds or scrub so have to "stretch" for the light initially

Ah, yes... reminds me of the year dad though he could slow down the growth of bean plants by storing them in the basement...

It didn't work

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: Sorcha
Date: 01 Aug 02 - 11:09 PM

ahh, oooh, for a real tree ripened peach....... what bliss. Haven't had one for over 10 years. We planted on of Gurney's "5 in one" grafted stone fruit trees (plums, apriots, nectarines, etc.) 4 years ago and have yet to even see a blossom, let alone a fruit. Eastern Wyoming is only truly conducive to things like chokecherry,sand plum and elderberry. Most stone fruits don't do well at all. We do have Mortmency (sour pie) cherries though. Just not a long enough growing season. Still waiting for that first tomato.........(which I sneak eat in the garden without washing!)

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: NicoleC
Date: 02 Aug 02 - 01:07 AM

Sorcha, I'd kill for genuine, fresh elderberries. I think it might be to warm for them here, or maybe just not popular enough.

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: MMario
Date: 02 Aug 02 - 09:07 AM

I have ripe peppers *and* tomatoes! Now if I was only home long enough to cook...

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: CapriUni
Date: 02 Aug 02 - 03:35 PM

We planted on of Gurney's "5 in one" grafted stone fruit trees (plums, apriots, nectarines, etc.) 4 years ago and have yet to even see a blossom, let alone a fruit.

I've seen those trees in seed catalogs... always struck me as being a bit gimmicky, frankly...

...like breeding a hairless cat...

Plums, apricots, nectarines, peaches... What's the fifth stone fruit?

If we weren't in a cycle of drought right now, I might be tempted to plant a pit from this tree myself... But Dad's in NY, and I'm in VA, and I have a suspicion that the pit is from a fruit sold at a local orchard up there, and is a species better suited to New York's climes...

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: MMario
Date: 02 Aug 02 - 03:50 PM

gimicky - but a very old means of providing multiple varieties of fruit when space is limited.

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: E.T.
Date: 03 Aug 02 - 04:32 AM

I'm taking a fruit orchard class from the local Extension office - and yes, they suggest (ow!) whacking away at your tree to do two things - open the center so the fruit inside gets sunlight to ripen and pruning back the top of the tree since fruit over about 12' generally is just too hard to get at - we had an OLD bartlett pear foryears that was about 50' and the squirrels got nearly all except windfalls.

If you just want to keep picking, I'd recommend pruning back the upward branches. Your ordinary (not dwarf rootstock) fruit tree can go 20-30' easy.

Your local county extension office may even have a video, surely a brochure on pruning fruit trees. And if it's as good as you say, a little xtra effort might be worth it. Do it now and maybe once more next year and that would take care of any major pruning.

Elaine - sticking to gooseberries and raspberries and currants while my one lone apple grows up (gotta find me a fruiting crabapple for pollinating and jelly!).

Subject: RE: BS: Volunteer Peach Tree -- edible?
From: Genie
Date: 03 Aug 02 - 03:17 PM

What do you get when you cross Tennessee and Georgia?

The Volunteer Peach Tree State

*G*