Peach tree

[OverWyreGrower]

We've apparantly got a little peach tree in the orchard, but it has never fruited.

Do peaches need 2 trees to fruit? How do we find out what variety it is (there are no tags or labels on it)?

Thanks

OWG

[Lesley Jay]

Looking in my book peaches are self fertile but difficult to grow in the midlands and the north.

[Crazy Chickie]

We used to have one in our garden when we lived in Edinburgh. It had been in a greenhouse originally but it had been taken down n the tree remained when we moved in. It was about 15ft high and looked like it had once been trained into a fan shape. The tree looked beautiful in the spring but often lost its flowers through late frosts n winds, because of this it only managed to set a few fruit, which would mature into even fewer fruit, but we would always get atleast 2 or 3 a year. Might not sound like much, but to me it was a nice bonus from a pretty tree. Bought a cheap peach tree from wworths this summer which I'm going to try growing in the poly tunnel, I know its possible because they sell Lewis grown peaches at the farmers market here.
Other folks will be able to give you better growing advise, but I think feeding in the spring and pruning/training in late summer will encourage flowering and if there are no polinating insects about when in flower giving them a tickle with a feather will help.

[Alison]

We have a dwarf one in a pot - it's in a cold greenhouse at the moment and will stay there until it starts flowering when it'll be back outside on the patio. Only got a couple of it last year but it had just been repotted so put it down to that, the year before we got about a dozen. Don't really know what I'm supposed to do but tend to water it plenty in summer when the fruits are swelling and give it a weekly feed with seaweed over the same period. By keeping inside over winter I avoid the horrors of peach leaf curl and have never had to spray against that. As it's a dwarf tree very minimal pruning is required, simply tidying up etc.

My parents used to have a full scale one on the side of the house in the midlands when I was a kid - did nothing for years and then suddenly went mad and produced more than we could eat for the rest of the time we lived there. Don't remember any special treatment except loads of water in summer.

[nick the grief]

Best results are either up against a south facing wall or under cover (which is the beter option as you don't suffer peach leaf curl then). As they flower reall early they are prone to all the late frosts. As to pollenation a rabbits tail is ideal or a paint brush if your squeamish, wait till it s a nice sunny day and then polenate methodically otherwise you'll get a bad fruit set.

As to variety I would say it's almost certain to be Peregrine unless its an old tree then it could be something like Early Rivers