UF Best peach

[mangomandan]

Has anyone in zone 10 had experience with this peach?

It is rated as 100 chill hours, but zone 9, by Best Fruits and Exotics.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

The UF "Just peach" , from Best Fruits and Exotics?

[mangomandan]

It looks like the actual name is "UF Best."

http://www.justfruitsandexotics.com/JFE/product/uf-best-4/

[skhan]

I've been looking for more information on this as well.

This is from the UF website:

‘UFBest’—100 chill units
‘UFBest’ One of the newest cultivars released by the UF breeding program (2012), this non-melting-flesh cultivar produces heavy annual crops of large fruit. ‘UFBest’ fruit develop 95–100% red skin over a yellow ground color, and the flesh is yellow with clingstone pits. ‘UFBest’ ripens 1 week earlier than ‘UFSun’ (mid-April) in Gainesville, Florida, with a FDP of 85 days.

Here's the link http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg374

Haven't found any information from backyard growers though.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

It looks like the actual name is "UF Best."

http://www.justfruitsandexotics.com/JFE/product/uf-best-4/

ok but it's from Best Fruits and Exotics right?

[mangomandan]

Thanks, Sayyid.  When I was in zone 9 one of the low-chill peach varieties sometimes bloomed before we had any chill at all.
I don't remember the variety, just that it was terribly confused by the alternating 80-degree days and 22-degree nights that occurred later in the winter.
So it would be nice to know the experience of others under zone 10 conditions.     


Adam, yes, from Just Fruits and Exotics.  But I'm also going to check south Florida nurseries to see if they carry it.

[bsbullie]

Be very cautious, even leery, on facts/details of specific varieties posted in UF's EDIS/IFAS pages.  They have been known to be horribly inaccurate on many varieties of many types of fruit.

[JF]

I recommend Bonita & Eva's Pride these two are consistent producers. They fruited heavily last year we only had 22 chill hours.

[FruitFreak]

Check out Phillip Rucks Nursery as they are the main supplier of commercial growers in Florida.  One thing I can tell you is that the UF Glo seems to be much more resistant to bacterial spot than Best, Prince, TB, Sun, or UFO. 

[achetadomestica]

I live in LaBelle, Fl and have been trying to grow peaches for a few years. I have a tropic beauty, Fl glow, Fl snow, grande, prince and Fl one. Some I had for 5 years and a couple are under 2 years old.
Ideally the days are getting shorter and they should have lost their leaves and should be getting chill hours. So far this year we got down to 67F one night and some of my trees are flushing new growth while a few are flowering  but none have loss a leaf let alone had a chill hour. UF is in Gainesville and their peaches and blueberries are always going to perform better in North Florida. My trees flowered throughout the summer and some even set fruit. I believe this is due to heat stress not proper chill hours. The fruit fell off prematurely if I didn't yank it off first. Last year I had good fruit set and we had a 30F night in the end of February and some of the trees dropped their half developed fruit. One year a squirrel picked the immature fruit and took one bite out of each one before he dropped it on the ground. He got 30 fruits in one day. RIP squirrel!
  But not all bad. One day my son and I walked out in my yard in March and their was a perfect looking Prince peach on a tree. I bit into that peach and I have never tasted a peach that good in my life. I handed to my son to try and he didn't give it back.  He still talks about that damn peach!
  My tropic beauty had about 50 good peaches the past 2 years and it had a real growth spurt this past summer. I don't have any squirrels left in my yard and I walk out every morning without my son. Now my only problem is the bugs. The peaches taste the best if they ripen on the tree. The stink bugs like to poke the peaches and the ants and beetles can destroy a peach in one day. I tell you once you eat them you are hooked. Georgia peaches are so inferior!
 The trees love fertilizer and grow fast. I think they only live around 12 years. Pump them and if you have room try a couple varieties. So far Tropic Beauty has been my best producer but the Fl glow and Fl snow and prince taste better. I don't think they will ever lose their leaves and get enough chill hours by December 21st like they were designed. The further up north you go the more consistant the results.
I got a Grande this year, I think they only need 50 chill hours. I have never tasted one though. I got a
Fl snow 2 years ago and it was a small tree from Hopkins nursury. It had 50 fruits the first year and man they were good! This past year it didn't produce any. Depending on who you listen to they require 200 +
hours? Hopkins is south of Immokalee and warmer then me. I would guess they hit their trees with blooms plus to induce fruiting to help sell them but I haven't tried it yet?
Mike

[mangomandan]

Belated thanks for sharing your experience and advice.

I think it's fair to say that growing peaches in central and south Florida is still a learning experience.

I see at least one Cali nursery that ships east of the Mississippi, JF.
I'm not yet sure I'm brave enough to submit California peaches to the heat, humidity, and fungi of south Florida.

[gunnar429]

I have heard that some of those low-chill CA varieties will fruit here in FL, but long-term, the prospects are less than ideal.  The problem is that it's damn-near impossible to order from those nurseries and have it grafted onto Flordaguard rootstock. 

I bought a Flordaprince from TyTy a while back for like $8.  It is growing well, but it's on nemaguard and I am not even sure it will fruit here, since Rob has consistently posted that rootstock can affect chill hours as well as nematodes etc.  Will probably let it be a few years and see if it fruits--otherwise it will get the ax.

[ericalynne]

Hi achetadomestica...

I am in Venus, just a few miles north of you. I agree with you that the Florida ripened peaches are the best I have ever had. Almost as good a a mango and that is saying a lot for me.

Where are you growing your peaches and what kind of care are you providing?

Unfortunately, all the  trees I have tried have died in their second/third year. The leaves turn yellow, drop off and the stems die back. The first set of three trees, I think got killed by the rain we had - standing water in the field where they were planted. So the next two I planted on mounds. They are failing as well. They did set fruit last year.

There is a small farm grower on Rt 70 and Old State Road 8 headed up toward Lake Placid. He is growing peaches and they are doing very well and also taste marvelous. He has a buyer who buys his entire crop each year. I bought two trees from him, but they are also now in the process of dying.

Erica
Venus, FL
Zone 9b

[achetadomestica]

Erica
The trees are deciduous and loose their leaves each fall. Are your trees going dormant and then dying? I have mine planted in a high well drained sandy soil. I gave one to my neighbor and he planted it in a low area and it died the first summer. They love water but need well draining soil.
Second what rootstock are your trees on? Hopefully your trees are on Florida gaurd? I think it is the only low chill nemotode resistant rootstock for Florida peach trees?
Mike

[mangomandan]

Erica, sorry to hear your peach trees haven't done well. I had the same experience, more or less, in Venus. They looked healthy for a couple years, then started declining. Too bad, as the Tropic Beauty peaches I got the second year were delicious.

Dan

[JF]

Dan
Get your rootstock ready and I'll send you some Bonita & Eva's Pride in January. Our summer highs/lows are same as Miami 90/70.

[JF]

Eva's Pride
More reliable Tropic  Beauty or any Tropic series

[mangomandan]

Dan
Get your rootstock ready and I'll send you some Bonita & Eva's Pride in January. Our summer highs/lows are same as Miami 90/70.

That's an awfully nice offer.  If I get a lead on the rootstock, and can engage a talented grafter I will be grateful for the budwood.
I don't have anything special or unusual to offer in return, JF. But check out my list of trees, just in case.   

[gunnar429]

Dan
Get your rootstock ready and I'll send you some Bonita & Eva's Pride in January. Our summer highs/lows are same as Miami 90/70.

That's an awfully nice offer.  If I get a lead on the rootstock, and can engage a talented grafter I will be grateful for the budwood.
I don't have anything special or unusual to offer in return, JF. But check out my list of trees, just in case.   

If you can't obtain flordaguard rootstock, you could always get another FL peach tree and use it's rootstock instead...not cost-effective, but will get the job done, and if the graft takes, it's like you paid regular price for a peach that isn't available here.  No guarantees it does well in the humidity, but it's an idea.

[starch]

Plus you can multigraft UF Best Peach onto whatever peach you buy locally on flordaguard rootstock with even another variety and extend your peach season on one tree.

My Floridaprince produces a lot of peaches in a two week window. So I will be looking to graft on different varieties (instead of planting additional trees) so that I get a little Floridaprince in Early spring, and other peach varieties later. Each good sized peach branch even maintained at backyard orchard tree height can still make a dozen+ peaches. So I like the idea of 3-4 different dozens over the season instead of 3-4 dozen of the same variety all at once.