New Low-Chill Peach And Nectarine Cultivars: These new varieties are suitable for mild winter climates

摘要

GROWING peaches in the lower southeastern United States presents many challenges. One of the most important is selecting cultivars that are adapted to the mild winter climate. Most peach and nectarine cultivars are too high in chilling requirement tobe grown successfully in northern Florida and southern Georgia. Low-chill peaches were introduced into the U.S. from southern China over a century ago, but they were small and late-ripening, and their fruit shape and firmness were not good enough for commercial production. In 1953, a program was started at the University of Florida to breed low-chill, early ripening peach and nectarine cultivars with qualities as good as those of traditional temperate zone cultivars. So far, 20 peach and 15 nectarine cultivars have been released by the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station (four jointly with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, two jointly with the USDA, and one jointly with the USDA and the University of Georgia).