Is 'Last Chance' Peach Good for Desert Climates?

Q. Will the fruit from a ‘Last Chance’ peach tree be tasty in Zone 10 or should I pull it?

'Sugar Lady' peach, not late but a solid performer with high sugar content from Zaiger Genetics.

A. Last Chance is called “Last chance” because it is a late peach variety. ripening in late September and October. That's the time of year you want really thinking of peaches so much but your mind starts to wander over towards apples, pears, and pomegranates.

That's a long time to keep a fruit on the tree and protect it from bugs, disease and keep the tree well watered. Personally, I like the earlier peaches because I can get them off the tree earlier so I don't have to worry about them.

Another great performer that has been around for a long time is Early Elberta with that Elberta flavor everyone thinks about when they think about a peach.

It is a chance Peachpit that sprouted from someone's garden, not one that has gone under the scrutiny by professional breeders. At Zaiger Genetics for instance, the folks that developed most of the pluots and other specialty hybrids, it takes about 5000 crosses and five or six years for each tree to get one successful fruit tree on the market. That's a lot of investment!

One of my personal favorites, but not so much because it is a great tasting peach but what peach is better when you can eat it fresh off the tree in mid-May! OMG.

Early peaches, whether they are grown locally or imported from a warmer climate, command a higher price because they are early. I think part of the reasoning about Last Chance peach was that it was late when there weren't many peaches around. The same idea just backwards.

I fell in love with this peach when I first saw and tasted it. Indian Blood peach. It's and old variety. Apologies if anyone finds the name offensive but this peach...words cannot describe the flesh color when it is ripe, the floral aroma and mild flavor of this  subacid peach.  Can anyone spell S-O-R-B-E-T?

The tree will grow fine and produce fruit in the desert. I’m sure of that. But I don’t know about the quality of the fruit. I understand that it flowers relatively early in the season, the first week of February, which may be a problem with freezing temperatures in February and early March. Some peaches can sail through this kind of weather and others can't.

We had 5 of these Stark's Saturn donut peach trees in the University Orchard. It was there second year in the ground. It was July and hot. I saw three peaches on  this tree. Two had already been nailed by birds. But this day I reached down to pick it, tree ripened, fully, slight give to the skin when you lifted it off the tree. Some juice came out on my thunbnail. It was 110F. The juice dried in a few seconds....leaving behind sugar crystals!!!!! Need I say more?

I have never grown Last Chance peach in the Mojave Desert but I understand it can have a slight puckery taste, astringent, when it is ripe. It was being marketed in the Antelope Valley near Lancaster California, in the Western Mojave Desert.

            

I would grow this peach tree just for the flowers! But the fruit is excellent as well. Red Baron. i put in 50 at Ahern Orchard in Las Vegas (Bonanza and MLK) for the floral show in the spring AND great fruit as well.

If you like the fruit, keep it. You might get peaches the first or second year you put it in the ground depending on the variety. I consider ‘Last Chance’ peach more of a novelty fruit because it produces so late.

            
So, my favorites usually produce in late May through July. Two notable exceptions are the Indian Free and Indian Blood peaches that produce fruit with lots of unique appeal when fully ripened.

Two very late peaches for the home gardener are Carnival and Fairtime. They are proven winners in production. I have never cared for the flavor of either one but they are late, Sept and October, but at least I know they can handle some late frosts.