Growing Peaches in Northern Illinois is a power point presentation given at the Chicago Botanical Gardens in February of 2008 by Dennis Norton of Royal Oak Farm.

1. Growing Peaches in Zone 5 (Northern Illinois) (Growing Peaches Where Some Say You Can’t) or or

3. How Cold can they get? Grape American French hybrid How Berries Hardy How Tree Fruits Strawberry -5 o F Hardy Blueberry (Interspecific hybrids) -25 o -35 o Apple -30 o F Pear -25 o Brambles Red Raspberries Purple Raspberries Black Raspberry Thorny Blackberry Thornless Blackberry -30 o -15 o -5 o -25 o 0 o Peach, Nectarine -15 o Sweet Cherry -12 o Tart Cherry -30 o Apricot -15 o -30 o -15 o Peaches compared to other tree fruits

8. They Made It!

9. Old standard temperature is the lowest temperature that can be endured for 30 minutes without damage. This chart also shows the temperature that will kill 10 % and 90 % of normal fruit buds. These numbers were taken from Washington (WSU), Michigan (MSU) and North Carolina (NCS) Extension Bulletins. Peaches - WSU EB0914 Portions of these bulletins are posted at Gregg Lang's Fruit Bud Hardiness Page at the MSU Horticulture Department Spring temperatures are generally much more critical to peach production than dormant winter temps.

13. Rootstock Photo, W Lord While many rootstocks and dwarf trees are available, planting on seedling or standard rootstocks is best for peaches.

25. Cytospora Canker

32. A Nice Peach Crop! Photo: W.Lord