A member of the Central Texas Seed Savers Heirloom Fruit Tree Preservation working group shared this article with me about “Indian” peaches.
About 10 years ago I read a different article about different “Indian” peaches in the Four Corners Region. These trees reached legendary status in my imagination. I’m sorry that I can’t remember where I read it originally but I did find this really interesting article about it. From what I remember about that old article, the trees were brought to the American Southwest by Spanish Missionaries, and the Native Americans began growing them in a feral way, propagating them mostly from seed and letting them grow with little care in the cool canyons and mineral rich soils of the Southwest. The idea is the Native Americans only planted seeds from the best tasting fruits and the trees had to survive on their own without pruning. Most contemporary peaches need intensive care from humans to produce good fruit. I have heard different info from different sources about whether or not most peach seedlings will come “true to seed”, meaning the tree that grows up from a seed will resemble its parent tree in every way. Many sources say most peaches will come true to seed, but others disagree, and I haven’t tried growing a peach tree from seed yet. Peaches, like most fruit trees, are commonly propagated by cuttings to preserve desirable traits, and they often can’t grow on their own roots and need to be grafted onto rootstock. Grafting is a process that most home gardeners aren't equipped for, so the idea that you could grow a tasty, healthy peach tree from a seed was, and still is an obsession of mine, a lingering dream in the back of my mind. Then in summer 2023, I freaked out when I saw that Lone Star Nursery was carrying an “Indian” peach, and I promptly purchased 3! Be sure to read Lone Star’s description and history of the tree.
When I bought them it was the middle of summer so I waited until September for tree planting season, (approximately September 15-April 1 in Austin depending on who you ask) and stuck them in the ground in 3 different areas in my yard. One spot gets full hot sun all day long and the soil is awesome because it is a former vegetable garden where I amended the soil for 10 years. Another spot is in poor soil in the shade of a tall privacy fence for most of the day. The other is at the end of a current veg garden with morning sun and afternoon shade. There has been no difference in the vigor or health of the three. They are all doing awesome! They each get 10 gallons of water once per week if it doesn’t rain. No signs of disease etc. I learned from Susan Poizner during my orchardpeople.com courses that most fruit trees should not be allowed to make fruit in the first 3 years after planting/transplanting so they can get their roots established before undertaking the strenuous process of fruit and seed production. So even if the trees make flowers you should remove the flowers by pinching them off or pick off tiny fruits from the trees. So I won’t let these make any fruit until Spring 2027. I hope they stay healthy and the fruits taste good. I put on my patience pants.
Vit Kaspar who is the nursery manager at TreeFolks used to live in the Rio Grande Valley area of Texas. He mentioned to me that there is a type of “Indian” peach from that area too. So maybe the term “Indian” peach is more widely used than I originally knew, applied to any peaches that were grown by Native Americans that cultivated them using minimal inputs. I’m planning to bring some scions from my trees to the CTSS scion swap in Feb 2025, see flyer attached. Maybe I will see you there.
