University of Florida Plant Information Florida Peach and Nectarine Varieties

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The University of Florida has developed high-quality, lowchilling, early-maturing peach and nectarine cultivars that can be grown from the panhandle of Florida to as far south as Immokalee. Low-chilling cultivars can grow and produce fruit under Florida conditions that are much warmer in winter than in northern states. Furthermore, ripening of these cultivars during April and May ensures an early spring market window for tree-ripe fresh fruit in Florida before peaches and nectarines from other southeastern states and California come to market. Both commercial and dooryard recommended varieties span the growing season (Table 1).

Peaches and nectarines are the same species, Prunus persica, but nectarines differ from peaches in that they lack “peachfuzz.” Therefore, the following discussion applies to both peaches and nectarines, but in most cases reference will be made only to peaches. Plums, the only other stone fruit for which we have suitable Florida cultivars, are covered in Growing Plums in Florida, another fact sheet available at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs250.

1. This document is Circ. 1159, a publication of the Horticultural Sciences Department, UF/IFAS Extension First published November 1995 under the title “Peaches and Nectarines for Central and North Florida.” http://ufdc.ufl.edu/IR00002904/00001 Revised May 2013 and June 2016. Please visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2. Mercy Olmstead, Extension fruit specialist; Jose Chaparro, stone fruit breeder; Pete Andersen, professor, Horticultural Sciences Department, NFREC, Quincy, FL; Jeff Williamson, professor, Horticultural Sciences Department; and James Ferguson, professor, Horticultural Sciences Department, retired; UF/IFAS Extension, Gainesville, FL 32611. W.B. Sherman, professor emeritus, Horticultural Sciences Department, contributed to earlier versions of this publication.