Peaches and nectarines in PlantFiles

I hadn't realized how many peaches and nectarines we have in PlantFiles - but there are around 400 varieties combined. I will be happy to give them their own spot within the cultivar browse and advanced search features, but I'm wondering if we should set up some special fields just for them (yeah, I know - a little late now that the entries have been created, but better late than never, eh?)

My initial thoughts were that these checkboxes (or something along these lines) should be added to their entries:

Chilling requirements (defined as temperatures below 45 F)
Low - Less than 250 hours
Low to moderate 250 to 400 hours
Moderate - 500 to 700 hours
Moderate to high - 700 to 900
High - over 900 hours

Disease susceptibility and/or resistance:
Brown Rot
Canker
Chlorosis
Crown Rot
Gummosis
Oak Root Rot
Leaf Blight
Phytophthora
Powdery Mildew
Root Rot
Rust
Sooty Mold
Verticillium

Pollination
Requires two varieties for cross-pollination
Semi self-pollinating (higher yields if cross-pollinated)
Self-pollinating

Other possible fields - size of fruit and average yield...

I'm hereby opening the floor to discussion and ideas of what information is most helpful to someone attempting to identify their own plant OR seek a variety based on specific criteria.

My proposed ranges may be off, and there may be other checkboxes that should be added; if so, please speak up! My hope is to get these finalized and implemented within the next week or two.

Actually, Terry, there are only a couple of parameters that i would search for 1. flesh color (I have a preference for white fleshed cultivars) and ripening time June , July, August ,September) or early, early mid season, midseason, late. Tree size ;full, dwarf, Container. I am not aware of any documented resistance to disease and certainly most nurseries don't list it. Pollination requirements ,yes Chill hours are not common information except for the "Florida" peaches, You may want to check if that information is sufficiently available to warrant the use of a check box for that purpose. If you combine peaches and nectarines , you may want to consider Apricots in that search group also. Enough rambling for now. Good Luck.

Good points all ;o)

I agree with Farmerdill that chill hour and resistance information is not readily available (but I wish it could be found). If you include apricots you should also include plums, apriums and pluots.

Terry one other parameter that cuoukld be important, Freestone or Clingstone. Clings are not popular in modern peaches, but they were in a lot of antique cultivars.

I'm thinking maybe apricots, plums (Japanese & other), apriums & pluots should have their own spot. Otherwise, we're expanding this new section to include most stone fruits, or should we think along those lines?

I'd definitely be interested in freestone vs. clingstone information, and the pollination info would also be key.

I agree that we're unlikely to find much information to enter on disease resistance (or, as Carolyn would probably correct us, and she'd be right, disease *tolerance*), so I'm not sure how useful that would be.... perhaps we could continue to depend on notes to let us know if people have found a particular variety to be more or less succeptible than usual to various diseases, especially as that's something that can vary widely from one location to another & may have little to do with a particular cultivar.... ?

Aren't there two means for determing the relative height of fruit trees?

First, the basic height of these types of trees is determined by pruning, isn't it? I believe that most trees are going to be kept at a relatively uniform height for ease of harvesting.

Also, unless I am mistaken, the other major determining factor of height is the rootstock that the cultivar is grafted onto. Any particular cultivar could be grafted onto dwarf rootstock, couldn't it?

As for average yield, I think that those would vary a lot from year to year and region to region.

Chill requirements would probably only be needed by CA and FL.

Chill requirements are critical for those of us in Texas!

I always push the numbers on the chill req. anyways. It would be great to have more info on tropical fruits to, I get the ones that they tell me will work here but I am never sure if they will withstand the weather. Lots of failures and a few suprises latter this would really help.

Sorry, forgot about TX. Gracious, I'm so close, too. :) Please forgive my oversight. :)

It's okay.............all the years I lived in Ardmore we knew we could count on peaches except for late freezes after blossoming. Here that's not the only problem...last year one tree had a few peaches but the other two didn't even bloom. Like 71754, I crowd my luck a lot on hardiness and chill factors. I have a nectarine, an aprium and a pluot, and also put in two Santa Rosa plums to help with cross-pollenizing. The aprium and pluot are supposedly complementary in that regard, but have yet to bloom at the same time. The ones I had in California in 9a performed wonderfully and were so delicious. An enigma!