Enjoy our collection of Low Chill Peaches, designed to be the first quality commercial peaches on the market. These low-chill peach varieties fruit very well in Florida, the Florida Keys and the Caribbean.
When looking into peach varieties you may stumble across some terms unique to fruit and fruit trees.
Melting or non-melting fruit — Melting or non-melting refers to the fruit texture. Melting fruit is juicy—it drips, it's stringy, and it won't hold up well on the kitchen counter for a long period of time. Non-melting fruits were typically used in carnning and processing, but newer varieties are firm and juicy with a longer shelf life.
Clingstone or freestone fruits — With clingstone fruits, the pit can't be separated from the flesh; while the pit easily pulls away from the flesh of freestone fruits. Melting varieties can be either clingstone or freestone, but non-melting types are always clingstone.
Chill hours — In order to bloom in spring, peach trees need a dormancy period in the winter with a certain number of chilling hours—nighttime temperatures between 32 and 45 degrees Fahrenheit. The exact number of chilling hours depends on the fruit tree variety, but it can be anywhere from a hundred to more than a thousand. You want to look for total accumulated chill hours as of January 1st. If chill hours are not accumulating until later, say February or even March, fruit will not be setting at the proper time. This can happen if there is an unusually warm winter.
