Tree fruit
How to grow peaches and nectarines
Prunus persica and Prunus persica var. nucipersica
Peaches and nectarines crop in the UK when fan-trained on a south-facing wall or grown under glass. Plant a bare-root tree between November and March in deep, free-draining soil. Two things decide success: keeping rain off the branches from November to mid May so peach leaf curl cannot infect the opening buds, and pollinating the February and March blossom by hand because few insects are flying. Feed in late February, thin the fruit hard in June, and pick from July to September.
- Hardiness
- Frost-hardy; blossom needs protection from Feb to Apr
- Position
- Full sun, very sheltered, wall-trained or under cover
- Soil
- Deep, fertile, free-draining
- Ideal pH
- 6.5 to 7.0
- Water
- Moderate to high as fruit swells
- Feeding
- Moderate feeder
Sowing and planting peaches and nectarines
WhenPlant Nov to Mar; blossom Feb to Mar; harvest Jul to Sep
This page covers peach and nectarine together. The planting detail below is for peach; where the other differs, it is noted.
Starting off
Plant bare-root Nov to Mar, pot-grown in spring. Named varieties are budded in Jul to Aug onto St Julien A; a stone sown outdoors in Oct germinates the next spring and fruits in 3 to 4 years, usually decently. Peregrine, Rochester and Avalon Pride are self-fertile, so one tree crops alone.
Spacing and planting
A fan on St Julien A needs a wall 3.5 to 4.5 m wide and 2.5 m high, on Pixy or VVA-1 3 m; bush trees 4.5 m apart. Hole 60 cm wide, 20 to 25 cm from the wall, union 10 cm above soil. Dwarf Bonanza or Garden Lady crops in a 45 cm pot wheeled under cover Jan to Apr.
Varieties worth growing
Peaches and nectarines: what is the difference?
A nectarine is a peach without the fuzz: the same species, grown, pruned and fed in exactly the same way. The differences are in how forgiving they are. Nectarines need more warmth to ripen, crop a little lighter, and their smooth skin bruises and splits more easily, so in a dry spell they need steadier watering. In central England a peach will crop on an open south or south-west wall; a nectarine wants the warmest wall you have, or a greenhouse or polytunnel. If you have one outdoor wall and no cover, plant a peach. If you have glass, either will do and the nectarine earns the space.
- PeregrinePeach
- The standard outdoor peach for a UK wall: white flesh, good flavour, ripe in August and reliable in an average summer.
- RochesterPeach
- Yellow-fleshed and flowers a little later than most, so the blossom misses more frosts. A good choice for colder gardens.
- Avalon PridePeach
- Shows useful resistance to peach leaf curl, so it is the one to plant where you cannot rig a rain cover.
- BonanzaPeach
- Naturally dwarf tree for a 45 cm pot that can be wheeled under cover for winter and blossom.
- Lord NapierNectarine
- The most widely grown nectarine in Britain: white flesh, rich flavour, ripe in early August on a warm wall.
- Early RiversNectarine
- The earliest nectarine, ripening from mid July, which gives it the best chance of finishing in a cool summer.
- FantasiaNectarine
- Large yellow-fleshed fruit in late August. Best under glass or on a very warm wall in the south.
- NectarellaNectarine
- Dwarf nectarine for a large pot, the easiest way to give a nectarine the winter cover it wants.
Peaches and nectarines month by month
Timings are for central England. Allow two weeks later in the north and on cold, heavy soil.
- January
Check the rain cover is sound. Move pot-grown trees under cover. Plant bare-root trees when the soil is not frozen.
- February
Feed in the last week. Have fleece ready: blossom opens on warm walls from late February. Start hand-pollinating.
- March
Hand-pollinate every couple of days. Fleece on frosty nights. Mulch after rain. Last chance to plant bare-root.
- April
Begin pruning now growth has started. On each fruited shoot keep one new shoot at the base as its replacement. Pick off any curled leaves.
- May
Take the rain cover down in the second half of the month. Potash top-dress. Thin clusters of fruitlets to singles when they reach hazelnut size.
- June
Final thinning to 15 to 20 cm apart. Cut unwanted side-shoots back to two leaves. Tie in replacement shoots. Water weekly in dry weather.
- July
Water steadily as the fruit swells; uneven watering splits it. Net against birds. Early Rivers ripens from mid month.
- August
Main harvest. After picking, cut each fruited shoot back to its replacement and tie that in.
- September
Pick the last fruit. Finish all pruning by the middle of the month.
- October
Clear fallen leaves and remove mummified fruit. Order bare-root trees.
- November
Plant bare-root trees. Fix wires and put the rain cover on once the leaves have fallen.
- December
Check the rain cover is secure and that ties are not cutting into the branches.
Feeding peaches and nectarines
A moderate feeder that needs potash for fruit and only enough nitrogen to make next year's fruiting shoots. One balanced feed in late February, potash in May, a mulch, and nothing after midsummer.
A moderate spring feed, leaning to potassium for fruit.
Feeding plan
At planting, once
5 g per litre of root-ball volume, touching the roots: 50 g for a tree from a 10 litre pot. For a bare-root tree dust the damp roots so they are coated.
Late February
Fruit & Vegetable Fertiliser 4-5-6
70 to 110 g/m² over the rooting area and lightly raked in. A fan with a border 3 m long and 1 m deep is 3 m²: 210 g on good soil, up to 330 g on a poor one.
March, after rain
Garden compost
A 5 cm mulch over the rooting area, kept a hand's width clear of the trunk. Wall borders dry out fast and this matters as much as the feed.
May
20 to 35 g/m² scattered over the same area and watered in: 60 to 105 g for the 3 m² border above. Use the lower figure on heavy soil.
Pot-grown trees, late February
Fruit & Vegetable Fertiliser 4-5-6
2 g per litre of compost as a top-dress (the low end of the 2 to 4 g label range): about 80 g for a 45 cm pot holding 40 litres, scratched into the surface and watered in.
Pot-grown trees, June until the fruit colours
1 g per litre of water, so 10 g in a 10 litre can, once a fortnight.
Signs to watch
Yellow young leaves with green veins on chalk
Iron and manganese lockout
Sulphur, chelated iron, acidic mulch, seaweed
Scorched leaf margins and small fruit
Potassium short
Sulphate of potash in March
Rampant soft 1 m shoots, few flowers
Nitrogen excess
Stop nitrogen, grass down
Pests, diseases and problems
New leaves in spring thickened, puckered and blistered red, later coated in white bloom, then falling
Peach leaf curl, a fungus whose spores are splashed into the opening buds by rain in late winter and spring
Keep the branches dry from leaf fall in November to mid May with a polythene lean-to that is open at the sides for air and pollinators. Pick off affected leaves before the white bloom appears. The tree grows a second, clean set of leaves; water and feed it so it recovers. Avalon Pride is partly resistant. Trees under glass rarely get it.
Plenty of blossom but few or no fruit
Flowers open in February and March when few pollinating insects are about, or frost has killed the blossom
Dab each open flower with a soft brush or a rabbit's tail around midday on dry days, repeating every couple of days while the tree is in bloom. Cover with a double layer of fleece on frosty nights and take it off by day.
Shoot tips curled and sticky, with clusters of green or black insects under the leaves
Peach aphids
Squash small colonies by hand, pinch out the worst tips, and leave ladybirds and hoverfly larvae to work. Do not confuse the tight curling with leaf curl, which blisters and reddens the leaf.
Leaves finely speckled pale and dull, fine webbing between them, on trees under glass
Glasshouse red spider mite, which thrives in hot dry air
Damp down the floor and mist the foliage daily in hot weather once the fruit has set, ventilate well, and introduce the predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis at the first sign.
Fruit turns brown and soft with rings of buff pustules, then shrivels and hangs on the tree
Brown rot, entering through wounds made by birds, wasps or splitting
Remove every affected fruit as you see it and all the mummified ones in autumn; bin them rather than compost them. Thin so that fruits do not touch.
Branches dying back, with amber gum oozing from sunken patches of bark, or leaves taking on a silvery sheen
Bacterial canker or silver leaf, both of which enter through pruning cuts made in the dormant season
Prune only in spring and summer when the tree is in growth, never in winter. Cut affected branches back to clean wood well below the damage in summer.
Ripe fruit hollowed out or pecked
Wasps and birds
Net the fan as the fruit colours and pick as soon as each fruit is ripe. Organza bags over individual fruits keep wasps off a small crop.
Pruning and harvest
Pruning and care
Polythene cover Nov to May keeps rain off (leaf curl). Hand-pollinate Feb to Mar, fleece blossom on frosty nights, thin fruit to 15 to 20 cm apart in June.
Harvest and storage
Ripe Jul to Sep when fully coloured and the flesh beside the stalk gives to a gentle press; cup the fruit and twist, never squeeze. First crop 2 to 3 years; a mature fan gives 10 to 20 kg, a pot tree 10 to 20 fruit. Eat within days; freeze halves or bottle.
Good to knowProtect the early blossom from frost and cover against peach leaf curl over winter and spring; hand-pollinate the early flowers.
Growing peaches and nectarines in pots
The dwarf varieties Bonanza, Garden Lady and Nectarella are bred for pots and are the easiest way to grow either fruit in a cold garden, because the whole tree can be moved under cover. Use a 45 cm pot of loam-based compost with a fifth by volume of grit, and stand it on feet. Keep it in an unheated greenhouse, porch or under a clear lean-to from January to April or May: that keeps the rain off and so stops leaf curl, and protects the blossom. Open the door on mild days and pollinate by hand. Outside for summer in full sun, water daily in hot weather and never let the pot dry out while the fruit is swelling. Thin to 10 to 20 fruit. Replace the top 5 cm of compost each February and repot every second or third year.
Peaches and nectarines: common questions
How do I stop peach leaf curl without spraying?
Keep rain off the tree from November to mid May. The fungus needs water to wash its spores into the opening buds, so a polythene cover over a wall-trained fan, open at the sides, or moving a pot tree into a greenhouse, prevents nearly all of it. Pick off any blistered leaves early and the tree will grow clean ones.
Do I need two peach trees to get fruit?
No. Peaches and nectarines sold in the UK are self-fertile, so one tree crops on its own. What they do need is help with pollination, because they flower in February and March before most insects are flying: brush the open flowers with a soft paintbrush every couple of days.
When should I prune a peach or nectarine tree?
Only while the tree is growing, from April to early September, and never in winter. Winter cuts let in silver leaf and bacterial canker. The fruit is carried on shoots made the previous summer, so each year you cut out the shoots that have fruited after picking and tie in the new ones that replace them.
Sources
Growing information on this page was checked against these references in November 2026. Feeding rates are Dr Forest label rates.