Edible plant · fruiting

Peach

Prunus persica

Also known asCommon peach · Nectarine (smooth-skin form) · Pesca · Pecher · Durazno

intermediate warm-season continuous

Use in garden planner

Days to harvest

730–1460

Yield / plant

5kg

Spacing

360 cm

Daily light

24–38DLI

Environment

The bounded range this crop tolerates.

Temperature

5152535

-20–32°C

45.578.5

6–7

EC (hydro)

01234

1.2–1.8 mS/cm

Daily light

5152535

24–38 mol/m²/d

✓Continuous harvest

Climate and zones

USDA zones: 5–10 (winter low around -29°C)
Frost: frost hardy
Season: warm (summer, frost-sensitive)

✓Outdoor year-round (in zone)

·Outdoor in growing season

·Unheated greenhouse / hoop

·Heated greenhouse

·Indoor (heated home)

·Indoor hydroponics + grow lights

Growing systems

Root mass: heavy. Thin-channel systems can't hold this crop.

·Deep water culture (rafts)

·NFT channels

·Vertical / aeroponic tower

·Drip / Dutch buckets

·Media bed (ebb and flow)

·Wicking bed

✓Soil bed

Growing media

Medium	pH effect	Retention	Bacterial surface
Soil-based mix (Potting soil)	varies	high	high

Nutrient demand by stage

NPK ratios are relative weights. EC targets shift through the plant's life.

Stage	N	P	K	EC (mS/cm)
seedling	1	1	1	0.8
vegetative	2	1	2	1.4
flowering	1	1	3	1.6
fruiting	1	1	3	1.6

Companion-growing notes

Heavy uptake of nitrogen. Co-grown crops with the same demand will end up deficient even at "correct" EC.
High transpiration. Regular reservoir top-ups needed during fruiting.

Aquaponics suitability

Not recommended

Fish waste alone doesn't supply enough of what this crop demands. Grows in hybrid systems with supplemental dosing, but expect active management.

Care notes

Not a standard hydroponic crop, but dwarf peach trees on dwarfing rootstock can be grown in large containers (50 L) for outdoor aquaponics integration. pH 6.0-7.0. Full sun (DLI 24-38 mol/m2/day). Self-fertile, so most peach varieties need no pollinizer. The trees must spend winter outdoors to meet their chilling requirement; indoor year-round growing is not feasible for standard varieties. Fruiting begins at 2-3 years from grafted nursery stock, and a mature container tree yields 5–20 kg of fruit. Peaches need annual pruning to an open-centre vase shape and careful disease management: peach leaf curl (Taphrina deformans) is the most common fungal problem, preventable with a single dormant-season copper spray, while brown rot (Monilinia) affects ripening fruit. Genetic dwarf varieties ('Bonanza', 'Garden Gold') stay under 2 m and suit large containers well.

Notable varieties

Cultivar	Type	Days	Notes
Elberta	open pollinated	1095	1875 Georgia chance seedling. The original American freestone yellow peach, basis for half the cultivars grown since. Zones 5-9, 800 chill hours. Late-season, ripe August. Self-fertile. The classic Southern peach.
Redhaven	open pollinated	1095	1940 Michigan State release. Yellow freestone, red-blushed skin, sweet. Zones 5-8, 950 chill hours. The most widely-planted peach in cooler climates. Self-fertile. Mid-season.
Reliance	open pollinated	1095	New Hampshire 1964 release. The hardiest peach available, tolerates -23C in dormancy. Zones 4-8, 1000 chill hours. Yellow freestone, smaller fruit than Elberta but reliable production where peaches usually fail. The northern-zone peach.
Florida King	open pollinated	730	Florida 1972 release. Low-chill cultivar (350 hours), the standard peach for Florida, south Texas, and similar warm-winter regions where most peaches won't get enough chill. Yellow freestone. Self-fertile.
Donut peach (Saturn)	open pollinated	1095	Flat-shaped Chinese peach type, sweet and almond-noted. Zones 5-9, 400-500 chill hours. Less juicy than round peaches, easy eating, kid-favorite. Sometimes called Stark Saturn or peento type.