Propagating Blood (cling) Peaches

I have looked all over the internet for seeds of this variety. I have even contacted many nurseries who sell blood peach trees to see if they would do me a favor and sell me some of their seeds...but no luck.

If anyone is interested in selling, bartering, or gifting me some of these seeds please PM me or email me at interwovenpermaculture@gmail.com I would be most grateful and make sure to spread them around!

Does anyone have any of these seeds this year?

Can anyone tell me where I can get seeds for these peaches?

Rez Zircon wrote:Those look like interesting peaches. How cold-tolerant are they? I'm in Montana, we get to around -20F most years. Apricots will grow here, tho, and wild plums are like weeds, they're everywhere. Anyway if you're still sending out pits I'd like to try some! Thanks!

Michael Longfield wrote:I have looked all over the internet for seeds of this variety. I have even contacted many nurseries who sell blood peach trees to see if they would do me a favor and sell me some of their seeds...but no luck.

If anyone is interested in selling, bartering, or gifting me some of these seeds please PM me or email me at interwovenpermaculture@gmail.com I would be most grateful and make sure to spread them around!

Ken W Wilson wrote:
Can anyone tell me where I can get seeds for these peaches?

Ken W Wilson wrote:Does anyone have any of these seeds this year?

Hi, folks....I will not have any of these seeds/pits this year. We've moved and I'm hoping the seeds/pits that I saved will sprout this spring as I will be starting over with peach trees. I might have the opportunity to go back to my old trees and get some pits late summer but right now is way too early to predict a crop.

One of the things I've noticed is that they don't 'keep' well....I think the best germination I've ever had was just planting the freshly eaten pit right then and there....any other method seems a bit more hit and miss....that's just my experience though.

Good luck and maybe if this thread stays active someone will show up with some to share.....

I would love to grow Indian Cling peaches.  I always heard my dad and grandmother talk about an Indian peach with really red flesh and then yesterday talked with someone at a Farmer's Market that mentioned Indian Cling peach and it does sound just what I've heard my family talk about.  Does anyone have any pits you could send me?  Thanks.

Here's a nursery in Georgia that has them, tho I don't see them listed as seeds.

https://www.willisorchards.com/product/indian-blood-peach-tree

Zone 4-8 so it is reasonably cold-hardy.

How is this for a fresh-eating peach? not really interested in canning, but I do like a good tree-ripened peach.

Rez Zircon wrote:Here's a nursery in Georgia that has them, tho I don't see them listed as seeds.

https://www.willisorchards.com/product/indian-blood-peach-tree

Zone 4-8 so it is reasonably cold-hardy.

How is this for a fresh-eating peach? not really interested in canning, but I do like a good tree-ripened peach.

I wish I were better at describing flavors....trying to think of the right words for it.  They are not as sweet and 'peachy' as other peach varieties, very juicy though.  There is a flavor that is maybe spicy? also......I always thought the different flavor and less sweet was part of the reason they are more hardy, but that's just a guess.  I like the flavor very much and am missing my old trees
We ate them everyday fresh off the tree when it was a good year and dried a lot also.  

Good to know. Dried would be all right too, I just can't get into the canning thing.

Does seem like someone will have to grow some, or raid a farmer's market, to get seeds for the rest of us. *sigh*

I'm fallowing this thread hoping one day someone posts with some seeds to gift, trade, or sell.  Happily awaiting!

Hello, new here but came across this thread while searching for the black boy peach in the USA. I see that some other people were looking for it last year so I am passing on a source to get the trees. The nursery involved changed the name to be more politically correct but here is a link. https://onegreenworld.com/product/autumn-rose-2/ Enjoy.

Joshua Midgette wrote:Hello, new here but came across this thread while searching for the black boy peach in the USA. I see that some other people were looking for it last year so I am passing on a source to get the trees. The nursery involved changed the name to be more politically correct but here is a link. https://onegreenworld.com/product/autumn-rose-2/ Enjoy.

Hi Joshua...welcome to permies!   and thanks for this link.  I've heard of this company and love their selection.  I've just been looking for pear trees, now I'll have to order that peach also I don't really like grafted trees, but for this peach, with the first crop, I could then plant the pits and have them true to type.

I still have access to my old peach trees and am hoping for a good year for fruit soon.  Last summer was just too wet and they had brown rot.  A hot dry summer is  great for them although not so good for us humans......

I think blood Cling used to be called Indian Cling? Is Black Boy the same?

Is Indian Free related? I have one from Raintree.

Ken W Wilson wrote:I think blood Cling used to be called Indian Cling? Is Black Boy the same?

Is Indian Free related? I have one from Raintree.

I'm not at all sure.  The tree all of my other trees were propagated from seed from was only ID'd by a couple friends and through some online searches.  I know for sure it is a cling and that it looks very much like what is called Blood, Indian or Cherokee peach.  The New Zealand peach looks much the same I think.  
I think I have a blood peach whip (that survived our move) from pits from a permie who said they were freestone...hoping I haven't mixed them up  

I haven't looked at Raintree's site...will check it out soon....thanks for mentioning it...

Have you had a successful crop from your Indian Free?


edit to add link to 'indian free' peach trees at Raintree  http://www.raintreenursery.com/Indian-Free-Peach-Lovell-SPRING.html

It's only a year old, but a nice healthy tree. I really like Raintree.

Here's another update since I've been getting requests for pits.......

We've moved and are starting over.  I have two small trees in the ground and hope they might bloom next spring but I don't expect fruit for another couple years.  
We have access to our old trees but just haven't got there at the right moment.

The year I had a lot of peaches had the worst germination ever...not sure why or what that means?

I'm trying to fix the photos in this thread and might have added doubles of some...I couldn't remember what the originals were...sorry

In the mean time maybe someone else has this variety or something similar to share?

I realize this thread is old, but may I ask what you all are using to pollinate your Blood cling peach trees with?  I'm in zone 5.  THank you for any help or pointers!

William Dempsey wrote:I realize this thread is old, but may I ask what you all are using to pollinate your Blood cling peach trees with?  I'm in zone 5.  THank you for any help or pointers!

Hi William...welcome to permies!

We only had the one variety of this peach when we grew them, up to four trees blooming at once, but early on just two.  They produced great on a good year.  I'm not sure that other varieties for pollination matters for peaches?  I hope someone else here knows more.

I planted this tree from seed three years ago, before we moved to 'town'.  I set it here by the pump house and it put down major roots through the holes in the pot, so I ripped and cut as much of the pot off as possible and mounded soil up from a ditch I had to dig to drain around a pear I've planted.   I think the peach is happy there

It looks so promising today in full bloom, but tomorrow night we are supposed to have temperatures in the mid twenties, so who knows?  I quit covering my peaches years ago.  This one might have some protection from the buildings, the house is off to the right and a porch.

It is one of two that I have planted here that should be the same line of blood clings that I had in the beginning of this thread...

No peaches this year...too many freezes after the bloom.  
I'll update this thread when I have some...

In the meantime if anyone wants to guide me through taking scions I would be happy to learn so I could share them rather than depending on fruit set.  I know it's late for this year but maybe I could take some cuttings when I prune next winter?

Much to my surprise I found a few green peaches on the back side of this peach tree.  This is the same one I posted a photo of in full bloom back a post or two and then we had several nights in the twenties....it's also the one that was never intended to stay in that spot but roots grew through the pot I set there temporarily and I ended up removing what I could of the pot and making a mound for the tree...

The fruit that set is on the back where (I'm assuming) the tree gained some protection from the buildings?  Not sure how long they will hang on...as even in a good year there is a high percentage of drops.

It is autumn here in NZ but here is a photo of some of the black boy peaches that i harvested from a six year old pip grown tree a couple of months ago. I only have the one tree so it is definitely self fertile. It has been pruned annually to keep the height down and blossomed after 3 years but didn't fruit - got frosted the first year and hammered by strong winds the following year. Definitely hardy, is in a south facing, exposed spot with not much sun! Noticed a few leaves with peach curl but didn't seem to affect its growth too badly.

Megan, those peaches are beautiful.  Are you going to plant some more from seed?

I am closely watching the four surviving peaches on my tree.  I was surprised that any set after our late freezes....even one with a lot of curculio damage is growing larger.

I'm hoping these will be future trees if not a few bites of peach to eat.

I was looking into scions and realized that this variety of tree is the good root stock one needs to graft onto so have been reading about cloning instead.  Has anyone tried the method described in this link?  How to clone peach trees

Judith Browning wrote:Megan, those peaches are beautiful.  Are you going to plant some more from seed

Hello Judith, I planted all the pits after I ate them but not sure how they will do, several were cracked so I removed the kernels.  In the past, I have managed over 90% germination planting straight into pots and overwintering naturally. Ought to know by Christmas if they are successful.  Over the years, have given away many seedlings, the original peaches were given to us by a friend and when she moved house, gave her two seedlings that are now almost 2m tall and producing prolifically. These peaches are seldom sold commercially, they bruise very easily and are tastiest when fully tree ripened otherwise can be very sharp. They are always free stone, unlike your blood peaches. They are a lovely peach to grow and eat:)

Over the last week all four peaches fell from the tree.  We've eaten what we could off of the one with the worst curculio damage and I planted the pit...the shell broke in half and the kernel looked fine in spite of the outer damage so I think it will grow.

I'm hoping the other three will ripen a bit more before we eat them, they are peachy smelling but slightly hard still, and then I will plant those pits also.  My peach tree orchard is beginning again

Hi Judith -

We have a grower and retailer of fruit and nut trees just up the road from us (http://ediblegarden.co.nz) and she is on a multi-year journey of growing out as many blackboy (she's trying to rename them Peche Sanguine) seeds as she can to use as rootstock. As Megan mentioned, this is a common variety for the home gardener all over NZ but commercial orchardists don't really bother because they don't pack, ship or store well at all. My experience with a few of these trees is that some are more robust than others and I suspect that seed grown trees will be the best in the long run. The ones I have get a pretty bad dose of leaf curl and I reckon that is partly because we tend to have wet spring and early summer conditions. Not really ideal peach climate. The white river peach, on the other hand, is bomb proof. Nothing fazes those trees.

Hello Phil, I was given a white fleshed peach seedling a couple of years ago and am waiting impatiently for it to start fruiting. There used to be a tree beside the Lake Hayes walking track that had the most delicious white peaches that I stupidly never collected pits from to grow - the fruit were tiny due to neglect but tasted divine. Several years ago I was heartbroken to discover that the tree had been cut down, along with the quince and pear trees that grew beside them. Such philistines whoever cut them down😕  

I have just noticed that the black boy peach pits planted in late March have germinated. They have been sat on a south facing terrace exposed to the elements, late spring snow last week to ground level and another cold front has just hit us. They are tough! Hope the blossoms survive the winds, they have only just opened. Last week's snow and wind made all the apricot tree blossoms drop. Too soon to tell if any of the flowers have set fruit. Both trees were grown from pits and planted in the ground 2012. First flowered in 2016 but last summer was the first time i got any fruit on the peach. The apricot still hasn't fruited - fingers crossed that i might get some this year.

Those look great, Megan!  That's quite a slope you have there, and the water moderating your temperatures!  Looking forward to following this thread as your trees grow and mature!

Phil Gardener wrote:Those look great, Megan!  That's quite a slope you have there, and the water moderating your temperatures!  Looking forward to following this thread as your trees grow and mature!

Hello Phil, the plot of land that our house is on is very small, less than 500m2 but close to town and overlooks Lake Wakatipu, the longest and 3rd largest lake in NZ. The views more than compensate for the small plot and for the last 10 years, I have been gardening at a community garden located 3km from where we live.  I’ve planted a number of pip/pit/stone grown fruit trees over the years and have posted photos in another thread https://permies.com/t/40/20130/Propagating-Quality-Fruit-Trees-SEED of some more peaches and a plum tree grown from seeds. I have also grown feijoa’s and Seville oranges from seed but both have succumbed to the cold weather in winter – we are at 300m above sea level and get snow to ground level two or three times a year. My objective for growing from seed is to obtain hardier fruit trees that do not need to be cosseted and will survive outdoors without protection over winter. If they don’t produce good fruit, I can always practise grafting onto them!

Here is an update on my peach tree at home. It fruited well this year, despite spring snow when the tree was in full blossom. A freak storm with gale force winds blew over the apricot tree and an examination of the base of the trunk showed that it was rotten, it must have been damaged when it was young so it was only a matter of time before it would have come down.

Megan, I love seeing your trees....and I think I need to seriously prune my peach before next season as I'll never reach the ones up top.
I wondered if you have peach tree borers there? and if that is what rotted the base of your apricot?  I am not keeping up with them and the tree I'm posting photos of may give out in a few more years.  I've ashed the trunk but the borers were already there and apparently I did not poke them well enough with a wire through their tunnels.

This is the peach sprout I brought with us when we moved here four years ago now....it made it through some late spring frosts and had a great fruit set, enough so that even though there is a lot of natural fruit drop I'm thinning a bit also, especially if I notice some signs of bug damage.

Hello Judith, I suspect that the apricot trunk was most likely damaged by a weed eater whilst it was still a sapling. The trees are planted in the strip between our house and the neighbours who employ someone to cut the grass and although I mulched around the trees, they may have still gone in too close and nicked the trunk. I’ve not noticed any evidence of borer - apricots are more likely to succumb to bacterial blast so I keep an eye out for that. I have left the lower branches of the peach tree too late to prune, cannot reach some of them already and will have to enlist help to cut them back otherwise the birds will benefit from any fruit on those branches - there’s only so many peaches that we can manage to eat fresh or preserve!

Judith, if you end up with too many pits on your hands I know this guy....
:)

Greg Martin wrote:Judith, if you end up with too many pits on your hands I know this guy....
:)

I hope to be able to share but am reluctant to count my pits before they're hatched...they look great so far and I know there will be some curculio damage.  If we keep getting rains though, brown rot is still a possibility even though these seem quite resistant.  The best peaches we've had have always been during a summer drought where I end up watering the tree with a soaker hose and the fruit and foliage stay nice and dry.

I think it will be end of july, early august before they ripen...

Oh I have been trying to find these peaches for about 6 years now. I would just love to get my hands on some peach pits!

Judith Browning wrote:I hope to be able to share but am reluctant to count my pits before they're hatched...they look great so far and I know there will be some curculio damage.

Judith, would you please put me on your list for peach pits in case you have some to share this year?  I've been reading this thread about the peaches you've been growing, and I'm so intrigued!  I don't have any peaches yet in my tree "collection", and these sound as though they would be a wonderful addition to my food-forest-to-be.

I'm reluctant to send out any pits this year as we have some brown rot...not bad at all but it's there.  The curculio have been at a minimum but also there in most every peach.  Easy enough to eat around but I don't want to pass on any problems in the mail.

Here's a few photos...I am going to prune drastically this winter.  I let it go for a year or two and that straight up branch is not going to stay.  I'm not sure why the leaf miners were worse up there either?   I love to prune so can't wait to go at it....

I did thin after the natural fruit drop and we have been getting a few ripe every day now but early on the tree had enough to need support even after thinning.

I tried two unpruned trees from my seed at our old place.  They grew huge quickly and in three or four years were covered with small peaches that never got full size nor ripened...both trees died soon after.  I think they need some serious air flow like most fruit in a humid climate.

Those look great Judith! I have really enjoyed this thread this morning. Not sure I have seen it before and it was perfect timing. I found some really great free stone/pit peaches in the store over the weekend and we are saving all the pits. Now I have an idea how to try and grow them after going through this thread. Thanks everyone! Hopefully in another year or two I'll have a better idea on the how's and where's of what I want on our place and I can trade for some of your peach pits if your are shipping that year. This years focus has been trying to propagate my favorite apple tree before it completely dies. We have been slowly losing branches on it so this year I have been attempting air layering, sprouting, and grafting. Anything to try and save the variety. I have no idea what it actually is, but the base of the tree is nearly 24' thick. It is a very old tree.

thanks Caleb! They are really fun to grow from pits and don't take as long as some fruit to produce.

We are starting to get some really tasty ones...in spite of the curculio damage.  I just cut it out and compost.  
NEXT year I'll do better at control

It is quite humid and we've had some rains that have caused the brown rot to flair up also but all in all they are doing fine...a good year for fruit here all together.

The fruit on the tree is starting to get a nice blush.  The flesh varies from peach to peach...some have much more of the beet red color than others.

There have been some 'almost' perfect peaches fall of this tree lately

This one has no brown rot and no visible curculio damage except right at the seed...it will get planted!

The last few days a pair of warblers have been busy around the last of the peaches....not sure what bugs they are after but maybe curculio larva making it's escape? They peck on a peach for a bit and then flutter around again....such tiny birds.  We have not ID'd which warbler it is.