[MG374-minor] Florida Peach and Nectarine Varieties

Abstract

The Florida stone fruit breeding program began in 1952, under the direction of Dr. Ralph Sharpe. The major goal of Dr. Sharpe’s breeding program was to take advantage of the climate in Florida to provide early, high-quality fruit to the market (Sherman et. al., 1996). In 1966, Dr. Wayne Sherman became the leader of the stone fruit breeding program, and he continued to focus on breeding for low-chill peach cultivars with non-melting flesh that perform well in Florida’s subtropical climate. The current stone fruit breeder, Dr. Jose Chaparro, has overseen and initiated research to bring in unique plant material that focuses on large, high-quality fruit with disease resistance and low chilling requirements.

The University of Florida has developed high quality, low-chilling, early-maturing peach and nectarine cultivars that can be grown from the panhandle of Florida to as far south as Immokalee. Low-chilling cultivars can grow and produce fruit under Florida conditions that are much warmer in winter than in northern states. Furthermore, ripening of these cultivars during April and May ensures an early spring market window for tree-ripe fresh fruit in Florida before peaches and nectarines from other southeastern states and California come to market. Both commercial and dooryard recommended varieties span the growing season (Table 1).

Peaches and nectarines are the same species, Prunus persica, but nectarines differ from peaches in that they lack “peach fuzz.” Therefore, the following discussion applies to both peaches and nectarines, but in most cases reference will be made only to peaches.