Peach Variety Performance in Southwest Iowa

Abstract

A study of peach varieties was initiated at the Bluffs Experimental Fruit Farm near Council Bluffs, Iowa, in the spring of 1948. The primary objective of this study was to find and test varieties possessing hardy fruit buds. No commercial peach orchards were in existence in the area at that time. Home orchard plantings had been declining because most available varieties were not reliable. Tree hardiness was not considered pertinent because trees survived, but seldom bore fruit except in sheltered or protected sites. Discovery of trees with hardy fruit buds, therefore, would mean that the peach industry could move northward into Iowa. Winter temperatures near Council Bluffs often reach levels below the -15°F and -10°F indicated by Lantz (1) and Tukey (2) as being the minimums for peach fruit bud survival. For this reason, the trial included only varieties possessing some degree of hardiness or those untested varieties with potential hardiness. This included 28 selections from the fruit breeding project at Iowa State University and several introduced seedlings originating in Iowa. (Sungold, Tremmel, Vanderpoole).