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By Gerard Krewer
University of
Georgia
and Tom Beckman, USDA
In the past, Attapulgus was best known as the world’s main source
of Attapulgite, a special clay used to coat paper, cosmetics and
kitty litter. Now it’s gaining fame for a new breed of peaches.
The little southwest Georgia town is home to the University of
Georgia Attapulgus Research and Extension Farm and the Regional
Moderate Chilling Peach and Nectarine Breeding and Evaluation
Program.
The latter is a joint venture between UGA, the University of
Florida and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Scientists are
breeding new peaches with a moderate chilling requirement for the
warm winters of a belt running from Charleston, S.C., to south
Texas.
Chill hours
Peaches trees require a certain number of hours below 45 degrees
Fahrenheit during the winter.
Cultivars with a chilling requirement too low for an area allow
them to begin growing too early, and blooms or fruits usually
freeze. Those with a chilling requirement too high for an area
won’t leaf out quickly enough in the spring, and the fruits
usually abort.
Moderate-chilling cultivars need 350 to 600 hours for normal
growth and development in the spring. The Attapulgus
peach-breeding program has been under way for 15 years. It
started at a site near Quitman but has been at Attapulgus since
1991.
A series of excellent cultivars have been developed for the
farmers and gardeners of this region. Breeders have emphasized
size, appearance and eating quality.
Sweet timing
Early-season peaches aren’t normally quite as sweet as a
late-season peach. But after eight months without a tree-ripened
peach, these Attapulgus peaches taste fantastic.
Early-season peaches are much easier to grow in the home garden,
too. The number of sprays required for insects and diseases is
much less than with late-season peaches.
Four “Gulf series” cultivars can now be ordered and planted.
Gulfking is a brand-new cultivar
with a chilling requirement of about 350 hours. It blooms early,
so it’s bested planted on hilltops in inland south Georgia and
north Florida or near the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Its southern
limit is about Gainesville, Fla. It ripens in early May and has
firm, yellow flesh with some red near the skin.
Gulfcrest requires about 500
chilling hours. It blooms about 10 days after Gulfking and should
perform well from Lake City, Fla., to Cordele, Ga. It ripens in
mid-May and has firm, yellow flesh with red in the flesh.
White Robin also requires about
500 chilling hours. It blooms with Gulfcrest and ripens about the
third week of May. It has white flesh.
Gulfprince requires about 400
chilling hours but produced a good crop of peaches even after the
very severe March 1, 2002, freeze. It has a protracted bloom and
hardy buds and should be adapted from Cordele, Ga., to
Gainesville, Fla. It ripens in late May and early June and has
firm, yellow flesh.
Clingstone
The Gulf series peaches are all clingstone. They have firm,
nonmelting flesh similar to the California canned peaches, but
juicier.
They haven’t been released as commercial canning peaches, but
from tests, they freeze and can very well for early-season
peaches.
To get these peaches, contact your local nursery and ask them to
order some to for planting next winter. You can get a list of
nurseries propagating these trees, too, from your county
University of Georgia Extension Service office.
The trees are budded in the spring in Tennessee and shipped to
south Georgia nurseries and growers the following winter. Ask for
trees budded on Nemaguard or Guardian rootstock. These rootstocks
are resistant to root-knot nematodes, which are common in south
Georgia.
(Gerard Krewer and Tom Beckman are horticulturists with,
respectively, the University of Georgia College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture. They and Wayne Sherman, of the University of
Florida, head the Attapulgus peach breeding program.)
