Fruit & edible · North Texas care guide
Prunus persica
Nursery Pro tip: Pick low-chill varieties for Rockwall. Needs drainage and a February prune.
Pink blossoms in February and March, fruit in June and July, on a 12–15 ft tree that starts bearing in its third year. North Texas grows excellent peaches — the catch is choosing a variety with the right chill-hour requirement for our winters (roughly 600–850 hours here) and staying on top of pruning and spray.
Full sun — eight hours — and good air movement on a slight rise if you have one; frost settles in low spots and can take the early blossoms. Well-drained soil is essential; peaches will not tolerate wet feet. Keep it 15 ft from other trees. Most varieties we carry are self-fertile, so one tree fruits.
Fall through early spring while dormant. Wide hole, no fertilizer in the hole, root flare at or just above grade, native soil backfill, Root Stimulator, and a wide mulch ring kept off the trunk.
Deep weekly soakings through summer, and especially while the fruit is sizing in May and June — that's when water turns into peach size. Cut back after harvest.
A balanced fertilizer in late winter and again in May for the first few years; mature trees need less. Too much nitrogen gives shoots instead of fruit.
Every February, hard. Peaches fruit on last year's wood, so the goal is an open-center vase — three or four main scaffold limbs, the middle kept open to light, and the tree held to about 8 ft so you can reach the fruit. A peach pruned timidly is a peach you can't pick. Thin the young fruit in April to one every 6 in; it feels ruthless and doubles the size of what's left.
Peach tree borer at the soil line (look for gummy sawdust) and plum curculio, brown rot and peach leaf curl — this is a tree on a spray schedule, with dormant oil in winter being the most important single treatment. Squirrels and birds take fruit the week before you would.
An orchard corner with apple, fig and pomegranate. Underplant with nothing — keep a clean mulched ring.
Written for Rockwall's black clay, heat and winters by the Landscape Source team. Every yard is different — bring a photo by, or ask LS-Ai, and we'll tailor it to your spot.