Plants 4 Bees :: Rosaceae :: Photo_Prunus_persica

Prunus persica

Scientific name	:	Prunus persica
Synonyms	:	Amygdalus persica, Persica vulgaris
Origin	:	China
Description	:	Peaches and nectarines are important fruit crops in many parts of the world. The difference between peaches and nectarines lies only in the covering of the fruit. Whereas the outside of the peach is fuzzy, nectarines are smooth. This characteristic is controlled by a single recessive gene. Peach can grow to 15 to 25 ft tall with a spread equal to, or greater than, the height. In well maintained orchards the trees are frequently maintained at much smaller dimensions by pruning. The stems offer a useful identifying characteristic in that they are often reddish above and greenish beneath. The leaves are shiny green, not fuzzy (glabrous) and range in length from 3 to 6 inches. The blossoms appear in the early spring at about the same time as, or slightly before, the leaves appear. They range in size from 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter and in color from pink to almost red. There are from 15 to 30 anthers and a single carpel with two ovules. Nectar is secreted near the base of the petals. Most cultivars produce pollen at the time the stigma is receptive. Over much of the Eastern United States, depending on location and cultivar, the fruits are ready to pick from July to October[3]. They are more or less spherical and range in diameter from 2 to 3 inches. In most cultivars there is a tendency toward a reddish coloration on the side toward the sun. The fruit is not prone to splitting as in sweet cherry, is generally quite juicy, and the stone is generally deeply pitted.
Distribution	:	The distribution map presented is meant to convey information about areas where Prunus persica is know to exist in a wild state. The species is undoubtedly grown, at least in home gardens, throughout much of the United States and Southern Canada. Where it has escaped from cultivation, it is most often found in thickets, etc. Dirr[2] considers peach, including its ornamental cultivars, to be a zone 5 to 9 species. In the U. S., the main peach-producing states are California, Georgia, South Carolina, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The main producing province of Canada is Ontario. Because the species usually requires at least modest winter chilling to promote flower development, but also blooms early in the spring, the flowers are often injured by late frosts.
Blooming period	:	The species blooms in the early spring at about the time the leaves begin to emerge. Dirr[2] supplies the information that it blooms in mid to late March in Athens, Georgia. The species blooms in the East Lansing, Michigan and at The Morton Arboretum (near Chicago) in late April and early May[13]. Fernald[3] provides a composite blooming date for much of the eastern United States of late March to May.
Importance	:	P. persica is very attractive to bees. As with the other rosaceous tree fruits, however, most beekeepers agree that the most important aspect of peach to the beekeeper, aside from commercial pollination, is its stimulation of spring brood rearing.
Honey potential	:	While Crane provides no actual estimates of the amount of honey that could be produced from a given area of land, she does provide a sugar value range for peach of 0.54 to1.38 mg of sugar/flower/day[1]. Free[4] supplies information that suggests that of the list: apple, almond, peach, pear, plum, and sweet cherry only apple flowers might produce more nectar than peach [0.74-7.09 versus 2.2-6.4 mg nectar (not nectar sugar)/flower/day for apple and peach respectively]. Free also provides the information that of the list: apple, almond, sweet cherry and peach, peach can at times produce more nectar sugar than apple (0.17 to 1.39 versus 0.50 to 1.4 mg sugar/flower/day for apple and peach respectively). Wilson et al.[22] found bees working what they considered to be extrafloral nectaries located in the angle between the leaf petiole and the stem in the outer edges of new tree growth. The behavior occurred in late July to late August in the peach variety ‘Elberta’. Their basis for determining that extrafloral nectaries were involved was that they could find no insects on the trees that would produce honeydew. The sugar concentration of this secretion ranged between 36.0 to 56.9% . Scullen and Vansell [19] found that the sugar concentration of peach nectar (from flowers) ranged between 16 and 40%.
Honey	:	Crane [1] provides a blanket description of the honeys from Malus, Pyrus and Prunus as light in color “with an excellent delicate flavour, and fine aroma” and that they granulate quickly producing a fine soft grain. Interestingly Lovell[10] describes the honey from peach as bitter.
Pollen	:	Free[4] provides the information that of the main Rosaceous plants the beekeeping industry pollinates (almond, apple, apricot, peach, pear, plum and sweet cherry) on a per flower basis, almond and peach produce more pollen than the others (1.14-1.95 and 1.10-2.23 mg pollen/flower for almond and peach respectively).
Additional information	:	Pollination considerations Most cultivars are self-fertile, a few are not, but many self-infertile cultivars have been removed from the market in favor of self-fertile cultivars regardless of their other qualities. The flower starts to open at 6AM and is generally open by noon, does not close at night and the stigma is receptive for 3 days. Most cultivars produce pollen at the time the stigma is receptive. Given the nectar and pollen statistics reported above, it is easy to see why peach is very attractive to bees Except for the possibility of poor weather, the above characteristics would seem to combine to make peach a relatively easy crop to pollinate compared to self-sterile fruit varieties . The bee only has to transfer pollen from the anthers to the stigma of the same flower. While wind may shake the flowers of self-fertile cultivars and thus distribute some pollen, insects, especially bees, are better agents than the wind for doing this. McGregor[12] seems to suggests one strong colony for every 3 to 5 acres for orchards just coming into bloom, but that for older orchards, one hive per acre distributed through the orchard would probably be better. These should be moved into the orchard shortly after the orchard has begun to bloom. Some growers consider thinning a heavy crop to be more of a problem than pollination, but it is easier to thin than it is to set fruit after a pollination failure. Other considerations There are many very attractive ornamental peach cultivars (double flowers, unusual colors, etc). Most are said to be relatively unattractive to bees. In addition, Dirr[2] suggests that because of the many problems associated with the cultivation of peach, most home homeowners would be better off selecting other ornamental species for their home landscape.
Reference	:	1. Crane, E. The Flowers Honey Comes From. 1975. In: Honey--A Comprehensive Survey (E. Crane Ed.). Crane, Russak and Company, Inc. New York, NY. 2. Dirr, M. A. 1998. Manual of Woody Landscape Plants. Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses (Fifth Edition). Stipes Publishing L.L.C. Champaign, IL. 3. Fernald, M. L. 1970. Gray's Manual of Botany. 8th ed. D. Van Nostrand Co., New York, NY. 4. Free, J. 1993. Insect Pollination of Crops. Academic Press Limited. London 5. Hooper, T, and M. Taylor. 1988. The Beekeepers Garden. Alphabooks Ltd. London 6. Howes, E. N. 1979. Plants and Beekeeping. Faber and Faber. London. 7. Iezzoni, A. F. 1996. Sour Cherry Cultivars: Objectives and Methods of Fruit breeding and Characteristics of Principal Commercial Cultivars. In: Cherries--Crop Physiology, Production and Uses (Webster, A. D. and N. E. Looney Eds.) CAB International Wallingford, UK. 8. Iezzoni, A. F. 2005. Personal communication. 9. Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium staff. 1976. Hortus Third. Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. New York. 10. Lovell, H. B. 1966. Honey Plants Manual. A Practical Field Handbook for Identifying honey Flora. A. I. Root Co. Medina, OH. 11. Lovell, J. H. 1926. Honey Plants of North America. A. I. Root Co. Medina, OH. 12. McGregor, S. E. 1976. Insect Pollination of Cultivated Crop Plants. Agricultural Handbook No 496, Agricultural Research Service. United States Department of Agriculture. Washington DC. This publication is being updated and is available on the web at: gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/book. 13. Morton Arboretum staff. 1990. Woody Plants of The Morton Arboretum. A Handlist of Living Plants in the Outdoor Woody Plant Collections. The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL. 14. Nyéki, J. M. Soltész. 1996. Floral Biology of Temperate Zone Fruit Trees and Small Fruits. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest. 15. Pammel, L. H. and C. M. King Honey Plants of Iowa. Iowa Geological Survey Bulletin No. 7. Iowa Geological Survey, Des Moines, IO. 16. Pellett, F. C. 1978. American Honey Plants. Dadant and Sons, Hamilton, IL. 17. Ramsay, J. 1987. Plants for Beekeeping in Canada and the Northern USA: A Directory of Nectar and Pollen Sources Found in Canada and the Northern USA. International Bee Research Association. London. 18. Roberts, J. The Origins of Fruit and Vegetables. Universe Publishing. New York. 19. Scullen, H. A. and G. A. Vansell. 1942. Nectar and Pollen Plants of Oregon. Oregon Experiment Station Bulleton 412. Oregon State College, Corvallis 20. Thompson, M. 1996. Flowering, Pollination and Fruit Set. In: Cherries--Crop Physiology, Production and Uses (Webster, A. D. and N. E. Looney Eds.) CAB International Wallingford, UK. 21. USDA, NRCS. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA 22. Wilson, W. T., J. O. Moffett and H. D. Harrington. 1958. Nectar and Pollen Plants of Colorado. Colorado State University Experiment Station Bulletin 508-S. Fort Collins, CO. 23. Wyman, D. 1997. Wyman's Gardening Encyclopedia. Scribner, New York, NY.