History , London Although its botanical name
Prunus persica refers to Persia, peaches originated in China, where they have been cultivated since the Neolithic period. From the 1980s to the 2010s it was believed that cultivation started around 2000
BCE. In 2014 new research was published showing that domestication occurred as early as 6000 BCE in
Zhejiang Province on the central east coast of China. The oldest archaeological peach stones are from the
Kuahuqiao site near
Hangzhou. Archaeologists point to the
Yangtze River Valley as the place where the early selection for favorable peach varieties probably took place. A domesticated peach appeared very early in Japan, in 4700–4400 BCE, during the
Jōmon period. It was already similar to modern cultivated forms, where the peach stones are significantly larger and more compressed than earlier stones. This domesticated type of peach was brought into Japan from China. Nevertheless, in China itself, this variety is currently attested only at a later date around 3300 to 2300 BCE. In India, the peach first appeared sometime between 2500 and 1700 BCE, during the
Harappan period in the
Kashmir. It was found elsewhere in
West Asia in ancient times. Peach cultivation reached Greece by 300 BCE.
Alexander the Great is sometimes said to have introduced them into Greece after conquering Persia, but no historical evidence for this claim has been found. Peaches were, however, well known to the Romans in the first century CE; the oldest known artistic representations of the fruit are in two fragments of wall paintings, dated to the first century CE, in
Herculaneum, preserved due to the
Vesuvius eruption of 79 CE, and now held in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. Archaeological finds show that peaches were cultivated widely in Roman northwestern Continental Europe, but production collapsed around the sixth century; some revival of production followed with the
Carolingian Renaissance of the ninth century. , Scotland An article on peach tree cultivation in Spain is brought down in
Ibn al-'Awwam's 12th-century agricultural work,
Book on Agriculture. The peach was brought to the Americas by Spanish explorers in the 16th century, and eventually made it to England and France in the 17th century, where it was a prized and expensive treat. Although Thomas Jefferson had peach trees at Monticello, American farmers did not begin commercial production until the 19th century in Maryland, Delaware, Georgia, South Carolina, and finally Virginia. The Shanghai honey nectar peach was a key component of both the food culture and the agrarian economy in the area where the modern megacity of
Shanghai stands. Peaches were the cornerstone of early Shanghai's garden culture. As modernization and westernization swept through the city the Shanghai honey nectar peach nearly disappeared completely. Much of modern Shanghai is built over these gardens and peach orchards. The first European botanist to argue that the peach did not originate in Persia was
Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1855. He argued on the basis of it not being mentioned by
Xenophon in 401 BCE or by other early sources that it could not have arrived there much before it was imported to Rome in the 100s BCE. An important western botanist to argue for a Chinese origin of the species was Ulysses Prentiss Hedrick in 1917. Chinese literature records the fruit for at least 1,000 years before its appearance in Europe.
In the Americas Peaches were introduced into the Americas in the 16th century by the
Spanish. By 1580, peaches were being grown in Latin America and were cultivated by the remnants of the
Inca Empire in Argentina. , New Mexico In the United States the peach was soon adopted as a crop by
American Indians. In the eastern U.S. the peach became naturalized and abundant as a feral species. Peaches were being grown in Virginia as early as 1629. Peaches grown by Indians in Virginia were said to have been "of greater variety and finer sorts" than those of the English colonists. Also in 1629, peaches were listed as a crop in
New Mexico.
William Penn noted the existence of wild peaches in
Pennsylvania in 1683. In fact, peaches may have already spread to the
American Southeast by the early to mid 1600s, actively cultivated by indigenous communities such as the
Muscogee before permanent Spanish settlement of the region. Peach plantations became an objective of American military campaigns against the Indians. In 1779, the
Sullivan Expedition destroyed the livelihood of many of the
Iroquois people of
New York. Among the crops destroyed were plantations of peach trees. In 1864,
Kit Carson led a successful U.S. army expedition to
Canyon de Chelly in Arizona to destroy the livelihood of the
Navajo. Carson destroyed thousands of peach trees. A soldier said they were the "best peach trees I have ever seen in the country, every one of them bearing fruit." The Navajo signed a treaty with the US government in 1868 and were able to return to the canyon. They had saved peach pits and some trees resprouted from stumps and so by the 1870s and 1880s many peach orchards had been restored.
Growing conditions Peaches are easiest to grow in dry, continental or temperate climates, with conditions of high humidity greatly increasing diseases and pests in subtropics and tropics. In addition the trees have a
chilling requirement. Most cultivars require 600 to 1,000 hours of chilling at temperatures between . During the chilling period, key chemical reactions occur, but the plant appears dormant. Temperatures under are ineffective for fulfilling the chilling requirement. Once the chilling period is fulfilled, the plant enters a second type of dormancy, the
quiescence period. During quiescence, buds break and grow when sufficient warm weather favorable to growth is accumulated. The chilling requirement is not satisfied in tropical or subtropical areas except at high altitudes with low-chill cultivars, some which require less than 100 hours of suitable temperatures. pollinating it The trees themselves can usually tolerate temperatures to around , although the following season's flower buds are usually killed at these temperatures, preventing a crop that summer. Flower bud death begins to occur between , depending on the
cultivar and on the timing of the cold, with the buds becoming less cold tolerant in late winter. Another climate constraint is spring frost. The trees flower fairly early and the blossom is damaged or killed if temperatures drop below about . If the flowers are not fully open, though, they can tolerate a few degrees colder. The flowers are vulnerable to temperatures higher than during the day. Climates with significant winter rainfall at temperatures below are unsuitable for peach cultivation, as the rain promotes
peach leaf curl, which is the most serious fungal disease for peaches. In practice, fungicides are extensively used for peach cultivation in such climates, with more than 1% of European peaches exceeding legal pesticide limits in 2013. Peach trees are grown in well draining soils as they are vulnerable to disease in wet soils. They are most productive in
topsoils approximately with a
sandy loam character. Most peach trees sold by nurseries are cultivars
budded or
grafted onto a suitable
rootstock. Common rootstocks are 'Lovell Peach', 'Nemaguard Peach',
Prunus besseyi, and 'Citation'. The
Royal Horticultural Society recommends Saint Julian A and Torinel. in midsummer Typical peach cultivars begin bearing fruit in their third year. Their lifespan in the U.S. varies by region; the
University of California at Davis gives a lifespan of about 15 years while the
University of Maine gives a lifespan of 7 years there. Peach trees need full sun, and a layout that allows good natural air flow to assist the thermal environment for the tree. Peaches are planted in early winter. During the growth season, they need a regular and reliable supply of water, with higher amounts just before harvest. With periodic mulching, additional nutrients are generally not required for trees in soil. Peach trees can be grown in an
espalier shape against a south-facing wall. The flowers on a peach tree are typically thinned out because if the full number of peaches mature on a branch, they are undersized and lack flavor. Fruits are thinned midway in the season by commercial growers. Fresh peaches are easily bruised, so do not store well. They are most flavorful when they ripen on the tree and are eaten the day of harvest.
Storage Peaches and nectarines are best stored at temperatures of 0 °C (32 °F) and in high humidity. They are highly perishable, so are typically consumed or canned within two weeks of harvest. Peaches are
climacteric fruits and continue to ripen after being picked from the tree. However, though climacteric fruits continue to ripen nutritional quality may not improve after picking with studies showing Vitamin C content to be higher in peaches when ripened on the tree. Both
ethylene and the plant hormone
auxin are involved in regulating the ripening process. Though the ethylene antagonist
1-methylcyclopropene can be used to delay the ripening of peaches its use negatively affects the aroma of the fruit.
Insects The larvae of
moth species of concern to peach growers include especially the peachtree borer (
Synanthedon exitiosa), the peach twig borer (
Anarsia lineatella), the yellow peach moth (
Conogethes punctiferalis), the fruit tree leafroller (
Archips argyrospila), oriental fruit moths (
Grapholita molesta), and the lesser peachtree borer (
Synanthedon pictipes). Many other moth caterpillars are commercial pests. The tree is a host for such species as the
Japanese beetle (
Popillia japonica), the shothole borer (
Scolytus rugulosus), and plum curculio (
Conotrachelus nenuphar). Green peach aphids (
Myzus persicae) can be a significant problem on peach trees. They overwinter as eggs on the trees and feed upon them in the spring before moving to other host species during the summer. Two scale insects can cause serious damage to peach trees, the white peach scale (
Pseudaulacaspis pentagona) and the San Jose scale (
Comstockaspis perniciosa). At best, the peach is a poor nectar and
pollen source for
honey bees, with the double flowering varieties particularly noted for not producing any usable resources for bees. Some fruiting cultivars produce no pollen, while nectar flow is often impacted by early frosts.
Diseases , Africa Peach trees are prone to a disease called
leaf curl, which usually does not directly affect the fruit, but does reduce the crop yield by partially defoliating the tree. Several fungicides can be used to combat the disease, including
Bordeaux mixture and other copper-based products (the University of California considers these organic treatments),
ziram,
chlorothalonil, and
dodine. The fruit is susceptible to
brown rot or a dark reddish spot.
Cultivars Hundreds of peach and nectarine cultivars are known. These are classified into two categories—freestones and clingstones. Freestones are those whose flesh separates readily from the pit. Clingstones are those whose flesh clings tightly to the pit. Some cultivars are partially freestone and clingstone, so are called semifree. Freestone types are preferred for eating fresh, while clingstone types are for
canning. The fruit flesh may be creamy white to deep yellow, to dark red; the hue and shade of the color depend on the cultivar. The genetic diversity of peach cultivars is highest in China with 495 recognized cultivars. Peach breeding has favored cultivars with more firmness, more red color, and shorter fuzz on the fruit surface. These characteristics ease shipping and supermarket sales by improving eye appeal. This selection process has not necessarily led to increased flavor, though. Peaches have a short shelf life, so commercial growers typically plant a mix of different cultivars to have fruit to ship all season long.
Nectarines The cultivars commonly called
nectarines have a smooth skin. It is on occasion referred to as a "shaved peach" or "fuzzless peach", due to its lack of fuzz or short hairs. Though fuzzy peaches and nectarines are regarded commercially as different fruits, with nectarines often erroneously believed to be a crossbreed between peaches and
plums, or a "peach with a plum skin", nectarines belong to the same species as peaches. Several genetic studies have concluded nectarines are produced due to a
recessive allele, whereas a fuzzy peach skin is
dominant. As with peaches, nectarines can be white or yellow, and clingstone or freestone. On average, nectarines are slightly smaller and sweeter than peaches, but with much overlap. The lack of skin fuzz can make nectarine skins appear more reddish than those of peaches, contributing to the fruit's plum-like appearance. The history of the nectarine is unclear; the first recorded mention in English is from 1611, but they had probably been grown much earlier within the native range of the peach in central and eastern Asia. A number of colonial-era newspaper articles make reference to nectarines being grown in the United States prior to the Revolutionary War. The 28 March 1768 edition of the
New York Gazette (p. 3), for example, mentions a farm in Jamaica, Long Island, New York, where nectarines were grown. Later, cultivars of higher quality with better shipping qualities were introduced to the United States by
David Fairchild of the Department of Agriculture in 1906.
Other varieties Peacherines are claimed to be a cross between a peach and a nectarine; they are sometimes marketed in Australia and New Zealand.
Flat peaches, or
pan-tao, have a flattened shape, in contrast to ordinary near-spherical peaches. Peach trees with small, inedible fruits are sometimes grown for ornamental value in gardens.
Production In 2023, world production of peaches (combined with nectarines for reporting) was 27.1 million
tonnes, led by China with 65% of the total. Spain, the next most productive country, only produced about 5% of the total (table). Peaches rank third in total production of temperate fruits after the apple and pear. The U.S. state of
Georgia is known as the "Peach State" due to its significant production and shipping of peaches in the 1870s and 1880s, with the first export to New York occurring around 1853 and significant amounts being sold there by 1858. In 2014, Georgia was third in US peach production behind
California and
South Carolina. == Nutrition ==