How to grow Nectarine

Where to plant

Plant nectarines in full sun on well-drained soil; peach-family trees standing in water can die in as little as three days. Avoid frost pockets, as the early flowers are easily killed by late frosts. They prefer a soil pH of about 6.0 to 6.5.

Nectarines need a set number of winter chill hours, roughly the hours between 32 and 45°F, to flower and fruit properly. Choose a variety whose chill need matches your area.

• North and Central Florida: plant low-chill University of Florida varieties. UF/IFAS now suggests stone fruit needing about 300 chill hours or less, as Florida winters have been milder.
• The Gulf South, Texas and Southern California: choose low to moderate-chill varieties suited to your area.
• The Mid-South, Mid-Atlantic, Southern Plains and Northern California: standard varieties do well where winters provide plenty of chill.
• The Northeast, Midwest, Mountain West and Pacific Northwest: plant cold-hardy, late-blooming varieties in a site with good air drainage.

Choosing a variety

UF/IFAS lists nectarines bred for Florida, including 'Sunbest', a melting-flesh type that ripens in early May in Gainesville, and the firm, non-melting 'UFRoyal' and 'UFQueen'. Farther north, choose a variety rated for your area's chill hours.

Nectarines are self-fruitful, so one tree will crop. In Florida, buy trees on nematode-resistant rootstock such as 'Flordaguard'.

How to plant

1. Test the soil and lime if needed, working amendments in well before planting.
2. Plant a dormant tree in late winter at the same depth it grew in the nursery, 18 to 20 feet from other trees.
3. After planting, cut the young tree back to begin an open-center shape.
4. Water in well and keep the soil moist through the first season.

Watering and feeding

Water young trees regularly. Established trees need deep watering in dry spells, especially while fruit is swelling, but never waterlogged soil.

Feed according to a soil test. Too much nitrogen gives lush, soft growth at the expense of fruit.

Pruning and care through the year

• Train to an open center, or vase: remove the central leader and keep three to five main limbs growing outward and upward at about 45 to 60 degrees, so light reaches the middle of the tree.
• Prune every year in late winter. Nectarines, like peaches, fruit on the previous summer's shoots, so pruning keeps new fruiting wood coming.
• Thin fruit by hand from bloom up to about 40 days after bloom, leaving about 6 to 8 inches between fruit, for larger, better-quality nectarines.
• In most regions a regular fungicide and insecticide program is needed for clean fruit. Your county extension office can advise on timing.
• The seeds and wilted leaves of peach-family trees, including nectarines, are poisonous to people and animals; discard pits and clear fallen wilted leaves where pets graze.

Harvesting

In Gainesville, Florida nectarines ripen in early to mid May; elsewhere they ripen through summer depending on variety. Pick when the ground color has turned from green to yellow and the fruit gives slightly. Tree-ripened fruit is sweetest; nectarines soften after picking but do not get sweeter.

Ripe nectarines keep about two weeks cold and humid in the refrigerator.