How to Harvest & Store Peaches

Now you have your peach tree and it's making peaches, how do I harvest and how do I store them? This is Richard Skinner coming to you from Hawkin's Corner Nursery in Plant City, Florida. Peaches, needless to say, are very delicate. Two things that you don't want to do in harvesting your peach: You don't want to jerk it off the tree, number one. So a little clip might be in order if you can't pick too good. The other thing is that you want the peach to have some firmness about it. You do not want it to get real, real soft on the tree. The reason for that is usually insects are attracted to a dead-ripe, so to speak, peach. They'll ripen some in the home, in the house, inside. Also in storage the obvious a lot of times it escapes the eye, but the cooler your storage bin is the longer your peach is going to last. So if you're wanting to maintain them for awhile before you eat them simply put them in the refrigerator, that's probably the best place that you're going to find to store your peaches. The other thing is is that you can freeze peaches. The quicker you freeze them the better. So basically putting them in a ziploc bag and a little bit of sugar over them to cure them and a quick freeze your peaches will hold good for quite a few months that way. But to keep them fresh, and to be eaten fresh, keep them in the refrigerator and they'll last a couple of weeks generally speaking. This is Richard Skinner coming to you from Hawkin's Corner Nursery on how to harvest and store your peaches.