🍑 Peach
Prunus persica
Proof that low chill hours and high standards can coexist.
Sun
Full sun, 6+ hrs
Days to harvest
2–4 years to fruit
Spacing
15–20 feet apart
Soil pH
6.0–7.0
How to grow
Florida peaches are a low-chill game — 'Flordaprince,' 'TropicBeauty,' and 'UF Sun' need under 300 chill hours and actually fruit here. Plant bare-root in winter, prune to an open vase shape, and thin ruthlessly: one peach every 6 inches, or you'll get a hundred pits with rumors of flesh.
Water & feeding
Deep weekly watering; inconsistent moisture splits pits and invites brown rot.
Common problems
- Brown rot — fuzzy gray mold on ripening fruit; thin for airflow and remove mummies
- Plum curculio and stink bugs scar young fruit
- Bacterial spot on leaves in wet springs
Harvest
Pick when the background color turns from green to gold and the fruit gives gently — tree-ripened is the whole point. They keep days, not weeks; eat accordingly.
Nerdy fact: Peaches and almonds are cousins — both Prunus, and a peach pit is essentially an almond that decided to wear a delicious coat. (Don't eat the pit, though. Cyanide chic is not a look.)