The Complete Guide to Growing a Peach Tree in Your Backyard

There’s nothing quite like the taste of a fresh summer peach, but running to the store every few days for a new bundle isn’t the best way to get your hands on this fruit. Surprisingly, peach trees tolerate a variety of climates and will grow well in multiple hardiness zones. If you’re ready to grow and cultivate your very own peach trees, here’s how to grow a peach tree right in your own yard.

Types of Peach Trees

While you can choose from thousands of peach varieties—each with their own taste, color, and growing preferences—there are three main categories of peach trees to consider.

Clingstone Peaches

Nicknamed cling peaches, the fruit inside clingstone peaches attaches firmly to the pit. The flavor, juiciness, and high sugar content make them ideal for canning, baking, and jams, but they are less easy to eat off the vine due to their tough structures. You'll often find them at farmer's markets for baking purposes between May and August. 

Clingstone peach tree varieties include:

• Coronet

• Desert gold

• Flordaking

• Garnet beauty

• Halford

• June gold

Freestone

Think about the last time you snacked on a peach right from the grocery store. In most cases, it was likely a freestone peach. As the name implies, the core pops right out of the center of the peach, making them easier to slice up and eat. Most freestone peaches are also larger than clingstone ones and come in a range of sweet to tart.

Freestone peach tree varieties include:

• August pride

• Belle of Georgia

• Bonita 

• Contender

• Fair haven

• Gala

• Loring

• Reliance

Semi-Clingstone

Farmers created this hybrid variety to include the sweet juiciness of the clingstone peach and the accessible perks of a freestone. You can eat them both as a snack and in preserves or baked goods.

Semi-freestone peach tree varieties include:

• Babcock

• Coronet

• Dixie red

• Florida dawn

• Gold dust

• Red haven

How to Choose the Right Peach Tree for Your Yard

There’s a wide variety of peach trees, with some that can withstand brutally hot or cold temperatures and others that thrive in milder weather. Most peach trees prefer hot summers and cold winters with temperatures below 45 degrees Fahrenheit, which allows the trees to go dormant, known as the chilling hours.

Aside from chilling hours, consider the size of the peach tree that will work for your yard. Most varieties grow up to 25 feet tall, while dwarf peach trees are about 6 feet tall. Keep a sunny spot in mind for planting, as these fruit trees will require full sun.

How to Grow a Peach Tree

Photo: ueuaphoto / Adobe Stock

For those with a little more gardening experience, you can grow a peach tree from seed. Just keep in mind this method will take about four years to bear fruit, while growing a peach tree from a sapling will produce fruit faster. Growing a peach tree from seed can be free (or the cost of a peach) or about $5 to buy the seeds, while planting a young tree costs about $45 to $100.

How to Grow a Peach Tree From Seed

You can either buy peach seeds at a nursery or, once you’ve enjoyed the flesh of a peach, crack open the pit and remove the kernel inside. Then, you’ll start the seed in your fridge before planting it in a container and then in your yard.

1. Remove the kernel from inside the peach pit.

2. Place the kernel in a resealable bag filled partly with moist soil, then put the sealed bag into the fridge.

3. After about 60 days, check the roots. They should be about half an inch long. If they haven't reached that depth, place them in a bag in the fridge and check them weekly for growth.

4. When the seed has germinated and grown roots, place it in soil in a small planter. Let it grow in a sunny location.

5. After the last frost of winter, plant the tree outside in a sunny spot in the yard.

How to Plant a Peach Tree Start

Peach tree starts are more expensive than seeds, but they require no time in the fridge for germination, plus they’ll produce fruit faster. Plan to plant a young tree in late winter or early spring when it is still dormant.

1. Dig a hole in a sunny location. The hole should be larger than the root ball, about twice as deep and a few inches wider.

2. Insert two tree stakes between 12 and 18 inches away from the trunk on either side to support the young tree. 

3. Place the tree carefully into the hole and cover the hole halfway with soil.

4. Water the soil thoroughly, ensuring the tree remains in place. If it shifts, adjust it as needed.

5. Fill the rest of the hole with soil.

6. Water the soil again.

7. Attach the stakes to the trunk of the tree about 18 inches from the ground with tree-staking straps. The stakes should remain until the tree grows strong roots—which takes about one growing season.

8. Dig a berm, about 3 to 6 inches, around the root zone to help maintain moisture in the soil.

9. Consider mulching around the root zone to further contain moisture.

10. Prune the freshly planted tree to about 26 to 30 inches to encourage new growth.

Tips to Take Care of a Peach Tree

Fortunately, peach trees are self-fertile, so even just one tree will produce fruit for you to enjoy. You’ll need to keep your tree in good health, though, if you want to enjoy peaches year after year.

Keep these factors in mind for the biggest peach tree success.

Hardiness Zone

Peach trees grow best in zones 4 through 9. Some varieties can withstand cold temperatures as low as -20 degrees Fahrenheit, and most prefer winter temperatures at least below 45 degrees Fahrenheit.

Sunlight

These fruit trees require full sun, so make sure to plant your trees where the shadows from other trees or buildings won’t interrupt their sunbathing.

Water

For the first two years, give the peach tree about 2 gallons of water each week. Once it is established and more mature, the peach tree can survive on this amount of water, which is about 1 inch of rain every one to two weeks. Keep the soil moist but not soaked.

Soil

The peach tree needs soil that drains well and is loamy or even somewhat sandy. Acidity levels may vary based on the type of peach tree, but these fruit trees grow best in slightly acidic to neutral soil with a pH of 6 to 7.5. Consider adding organic elements, like compost, to help boost soil nutrients and maintain the ideal pH.

Chilling Hours

Peach trees grow best with at least 600 chilling hours, which means hours outside when the temperature is 45 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. Some types of peach trees will grow better in even colder or hotter conditions. 

Fertilizer

Add about 1 pound of slow-release fertilizer to new peach trees in the spring. Each year, add an additional pound, up to 10 pounds. Test the soil pH to determine what fertilizer your soil and peach tree need.

Pruning

Put pruning the peach tree on your schedule every spring or summer. Especially in the summer, prune the inner branches of your full-grown peach tree to make sure the fruits on other branches aren’t being shaded from the sun. Pruning and sunlight are essential for developing the following year’s harvest.

Harvesting a Peach Tree

After the young tree is established and begins producing fruit (about two to four years in), it’s time to enjoy the literal fruits of your labor. You’ll want to pick small peaches about one month into the growing season to direct nutrients to the larger fruits. 

The peak harvest time for the best peaches is between June and August when the peaches are no longer green. Feel free to pick one and taste it to determine if the peaches are ripe and ready.

Common Diseases

Peach trees can be challenging to grow and maintain simply due to their disease susceptibility. The best way to avoid common peach tree diseases is only to choose varieties recommended for your hardiness zone, soil quality, and sun exposure. Many peach tree diseases will thrive in areas with poor air circulation or in low-lying areas prone to high moisture.

Peach Scab

When a peach tree develops peach scab, brown spots or lesions form on the skin of the fruit from a fungus and eventually expand to form large dark lines and blotches. Young trees in low-lying areas are most susceptible, particularly when there is low circulation. Follow strict pruning and fungicide recommendations from your local nursery at the first signs of peach scab.

Brown Rot

Infections from this fungus transform flowers and healthy fruit into spore-carrying buds that can spread to the rest of the tree and nearby plants. The mummy-like fungus blooms will even remain stuck to the tree through the winter and into the following season. Areas affected by brown rot, including those that have fallen on the ground, must be pruned or removed to prevent further spread.

Peach Tree Short Life

Unlike the fungus-related diseases above, this disease comes from ring nematodes. When combined with poor pruning and fluctuating winter temperatures, the disease can overtake the tree and cause it to collapse just before or after sprouting leaves. Since the ring nematode thrives in the planting soil, gardeners may need to fully remove the infected tree and plant the new peach tree away from the spot.

Leaf Curl

Caused yet again by a dangerous fungus, leaf curl can blight many types of peach trees, though some are resistant to it. Leaf curl causes the new spring leaves to thicken, curl, turn gray, and eventually drop off. New leaves and fruit will attempt to grow in their place, but the damage to the tree in the early stage of the season will keep it from flourishing. Gardeners that suspect leaf curl should apply a fungicide before the tree goes dormant in the fall.

Common Pests

Peach trees are also vulnerable to local pests. While the insects and animals will vary by region, most will flourish on peach trees when rotting fruit, branches, or other plant materials are left to rot without pruning. In severe cases, pesticides and fruit bags—bags that wrap around budding peaches while still allowing them to grow—may be necessary. 

Some of the most common peach-tree pests include:

• Oriental fruit moths

• Peach borers

• Stink bugs

• Plum curculio

• Aphids

• Walnut husk fly

• Earwigs

• Paper wasps

Common Problems With Peach Trees

Outside of disease and pests, climate and care issues can throw off your plans for a summer peach cobbler. Here are some of the most common issues associated with peach trees outside of disease and unwanted visitors.

No Fruit

Even if your full-grown peach tree looks lush, you may not end up with a whole lot of peaches each season. The problem could stem from too much nitrogen in the soil, freezing temperatures after the spring thaw, or poor pruning practices.

Small Fruit

The most common reason for small peaches at the height of the season is a warm winter. Peach trees need to rest in a significant dormancy period to bounce back in the spring, and temperatures need to drop between 32 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit for that to happen.

Low Number of Fruit

In addition to soil and seasonal issues, low numbers of local pollinators could be cutting down on your peach count. Consider planting a pollinator garden that attracts local insects and animals that can lend a hand to your tree.

Paige Bennett contributed to this piece.