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Peaches

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StanleySankey
  6/16/2019 08:47 EST

For those of you that live in Chiriqui. Just curious if you are aware of anyone growing peaches in the area.

The reason I ask is that the MIDA nursery in Divisa has peach seedlings for sale. I know that peaches require a certain number of chill hours to set fruit. Therefore the odds of growing peaches in Azuero is close to zero and Chiriqui is the only area that is likely to be able to produce them, since they do grow them in Costa Rica.

panamajames
  6/16/2019 09:46 EST

I have found that locally grown peaches in Panama, are the worst that I have ever encountered. Small, tasteless, and even sometimes bitter. I grew up in Peach country so I am quite biased. There are some fruits in Panama like papaya, watermelon, oranges, lemons, limes, bananas, passion fruit and more that do extremely well. I have never seen a peach, a plum, or an apricot in Panama, that compares to ones grown in soft fruit countries. There may be slight pockets of experimenters who do well but it is probably done in controlled greenhouse environments.........

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StanleySankey
  6/16/2019 13:55 EST

Thanks PanamaJames

I understand, what you mean. I studied for years at Okanagan University College in Kelowna and had tons of fresh peaches, cherries, apples, grapes etc. from my parents acreage. One of the few things I miss from living up north.

Small, tasteless and bitter fruit, is usually a result of insufficient chill hours. That is what I was expecting to hear, but thought it doesn't hurt to confirm.

ginnypeary
  6/16/2019 22:23 EST

Hi
I saw the post about lemons
And had to ask...
Are there REAL lemons in Panama?
REALLY?
I thought that only the lem-ons, grew down there.
I have asked for lemons in Belize and in Costa Rica, they look at you as if you had a 3rd eye? LOL
But seriously, I didn’t know if they were sold or if I’d have to buy seeds for lemon trees, & have them shipped to me after we move.
Lemons are YELLOW not green..
You can’t make lemonade with the GREEN lim-mons that seem to grow along the streets in CR. so I was wondering if they grew them at all?

volcan357
  6/16/2019 22:40 EST

Peaches won't do well in Panama because we live in the deep tropics. Peaches need a certain number of hours of winter chilling. Here we don't get any. Peaches don't mind a long hot summer but they need chilling in the winter. They also appreciate the changes in daylength between winter and summer. The same goes for apples, pears, cherries and plums. There is a variety of plum that will produce decent fruit. I think it is native to Guatemala which is a little more subtropical than Panama, I have grafted Persian limes that do well here in Panama. There is also a citrus tree that comes up from seed (it is not grafted) that has fruit that look like small oranges but they taste exactly like lemons. I haven't seen any trees of the yellow lemons like you buy in the supermarkets in the USA. Commercially most varieties of citrus fruits do better in the subtropics. Panama is in the deep tropics. Most of Mexico, Northern Guatemala, Florida and the Dominican Republic plus Southern Brazil are in the subtropics.

jonoyakker
  6/16/2019 23:37 EST

I've seen them here a couple times. I'm curious why you can't use the green ones for lemonade? I've done it, though I'm not a lemonade fanatic, I guess :) There are also orange lemons BTW

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ginnypeary
  6/17/2019 00:27 EST

The green ones are way to bitter
It would take a lot more sugar to make lemonade the just the regular amount
Why are they green and not yellow in the 1st place.
When my husband orders sweet tea, they don’t have the either.
So he has to add more sugar and just for get the lemons
They are just to bitter
We live in Georgia and sweet tea is VERY sweet (some say it’s too sweet) but I like it sweet
Take regular lemons and add water, sugar... then do the same mixing amounts and you’ll see a HUGE difference in the teast
Put I also don’t add a piece of fruit to any of my beers.. why should we... it just helps cover up the tease. Some add real lemons or a slice of orange. WHY?
Corrida people push a lemon or lime into it... why? To make it teast better/cover the tease
I’ve never got that... and I’m old enough to know what a “vinale” really is or an 8-track.. there a a ton of things people just don’t know because they aren’t old enough (then ask them do they know about a REEL to REEL,
watch there faces turn to puzzlement. Tell them it’s what music used to be recorded on...and laugh. It’s just what we do. We add sugar and creamer to coffee, why to make it teast better... coffee is just bitter, so we put stuff in it. Not like in New Orleans, don’t even try, they might kick out out of the Quart for that...lol
It’s just funny what we put in our mouths to make things teast differently

MgPanama
  6/17/2019 01:07 EST

You can find "Yellow" Lemons in just about all the El Rey supermarkets. I just bought some last week in Coronado.

I recommend adding Raspadura rather than simply adding sugar.

ChiriquiDebbie
  6/18/2019 17:14 EST

I grew several varieties of low chill peaches in Phoenix Arizona, before moving to Panama. They were very sweet and juicy. I know there are some that only require about 3 - 4 hours of chill time. I have not seen them here yet, but this may be possible in Cerro Punta, Volcancito, and other mountain areas. I believe it gets cool enough there. If the "chill hours" are less, you usually just have less production.

volcan357
  6/18/2019 21:49 EST

There are some varieties of low chill peaches that will grow in the subtropics. In the subtropics it is cooler in the winters months and warmer in the summer months. Also there is less daylight hours in the winter months and more daylight hours in the summer months. These differences are less pronounced than you find in temperate areas but they are a lot more pronounced than you find in the deep tropics such as here in Panama. Here in Panama if you get high enough in the mountains to satisfy the chilling requirement then it is too cold year round. Peaches need chilling in the winter and heat in the summer. Not only heat in the summer but heat combined with more hours of daylight. These are condition are impossible to find in the deep tropics. The only solution might be some kind of breeding program to develop varieties adapted to our climate. The other problem is that in what would be the summer months in temperate areas it is the rainy season here in Panama. So you not only have a shorter day length because of how close we are to the equator but that is compounded by lots of hours of overcast sky during the rainy season. The trees are going to be really starved for sunlight which means that any fruits that happen to survive these conditions are not going to be sweet. I have noticed in my area here that oranges that are harvested in the rainy season tend to be really sour whereas the ones harvested in the dry season are sweeter. So any varieties of peaches that would have any chance at all in this climate would have to bloom at the beginning of January and develop their fruit before the rainy season starts. Since the dry season here is very dry they might need irrigated. There are plums that are pretty sweet that grow in Cerro Punta. I think they might be native to Guatemala. That might be a start of a breeding program since you can cross plums with peaches. Remember though that Guatemala borders the subtropics but Panama doesn't. Guatemala gets less rain and more hours of sunlight. Here in Volcan the annual rainfall is 105 inches. The more rain the less sun which you need to ripen fruit. Here in Volcan we have loquats or what we call nisperos in Spanish. They do okay here and are pretty tasty. Most of them here are planted from seed. It would be interesting to import some grafted varieties. That would probably be more worthwhile than trying to grow peaches since it is already demonstrated that they grow well in Volcan. Loquats belong to the Rose family the same as peaches, plums, apples, cherries, etc.

panamajames
  6/19/2019 01:40 EST

I spent 27 years in Kelowna and used to teach at the Okanagan University College. So I know what you mean about the fruit from that region. I met my current wife who graduated from that College and we both reside here in Panama in our retirement. We had 3 children in Kelowna before retiring here who like to visit us often for the beaches nearby, but they still haven't given up skiing, tobogganing and skating. If I never see snow again, I won't be disappointed. I remember getting a PM from you recently about a farm or a house in Penonome that we have. You can email at [email protected] Cheers.

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panamajames
  6/19/2019 01:49 EST

The pure yellow very large and odd shaped lemons that I like the best in Panama have been nicknamed Noriega Lemons, as they are quite pock marked on their outer skin, versus the average North American lemons that are smooth like an orange, only smaller. Definitely yellow and definitely odd shaped but delicious. Mostly the locals grow them to keep the coffee flies out of their coffee farms. Coffee flies don't like the smell of citrus..........

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