Tree · Rosaceae
Nectarine
Prunus persica var. nucipersica
A nectarine is a peach stripped of its fuzz, its taut, smooth skin repaying full sun and a yearly prune with sweet fruit.
Full sun
Every 7–14 days
USDA 5–9
10–20 ft · 3–6 m
Overview
A nectarine is the same tree as a peach, parted from it by one gene that leaves the fruit bare. It belongs to the rose family with cherries, plums, and apricots, and that smooth, fuzzless skin is the one plain trait that tells it from its fuzzy twin. Grown well it hangs firm, sweet fruit on a tree scaled to a backyard rather than an orchard.
This is a demanding tree, and the honesty is worth it. It wants full sun, deep well-drained soil, and a close prune each winter, and its bare skin scars and rots more readily than a peach's fuzz-shielded surface. The reward is fruit rarely met at its best in a store, cut dead ripe from the branch with the skin still taut.
Most trees come grafted onto a rootstock, so a young whip goes in and takes its shape from the first cuts. It crops through zones 5 through 9, opens its blossom early enough that a late frost can catch the flowers, and colors its fruit across the heart of summer.
Care
The short version: full sun, deep well-drained soil kept on the dry side once the tree is established, an open-center prune every late winter, and a dormant spray laid over the bare wood to head off leaf curl and brown rot.
Light
Give a nectarine full sun, the most you can, since both the fruit's quality and its sugar depend on the light striking the leaves. A tree in shade stretches leggy and thin, sets little fruit, and holds damp leaves that invite disease.
Water
Water deeply while the tree pushes growth and swells its fruit, then let the top half of the soil dry before the next soaking. An established tree stands through a short dry spell, and keeping water off the leaves leaves them less prone to fungus.
Soil
Plant into deep, well-drained sandy loam, since roots left sitting in wet ground kill a nectarine faster than anything. Hold the pH slightly acidic, between 6.0 and 6.5, and open up the drainage before planting wherever the ground stays sodden.
Temperature
The tree stands hardy across a wide swing, from about -9°F to 95°F (-23°C to 35°C). Its early, exposed bloom is the weak point, since a late frost can blacken a whole year's flowers before the fruit ever forms.
Humidity
Average humidity in the 40% to 70% range suits it. Damp, still air is the real trouble, since it feeds brown rot and leaf curl, so an open canopy that lets the breeze slip through keeps the leaves and fruit dry.
Feeding
Feed from early spring into midsummer with a balanced complete fertilizer such as 10-10-10, then follow with calcium nitrate. Ease off by late summer so the soft new shoots firm and harden before winter.
Pruning
Train the young tree to an open-center, vase shape, an open bowl of branches, and prune it hard every late winter. Each year the cuts take out the tall straight water sprouts and thin the canopy so light and air reach the fruit, and this is the single biggest task the tree sets.
Repotting
This is a field tree with roots run deep in the ground, not a container plant, so there is no repotting in the usual sense. Choose the spot with care from the start, since a nectarine resents being lifted once its roots take hold.
Size & spacing
Left to grow, a nectarine rises to 10 to 20 feet (3 to 6 m) tall with a canopy about as wide. A yearly prune holds it lower and within reach, but leave it the full 10 to 20 feet (3 to 6 m) of room so air moves through the branches.
When to plant
A bare-root nectarine goes into the ground while it stands leafless and dormant, in late winter or early spring, so the roots settle before the buds break. The tree opens its flowers early, which leaves the blossoms exposed to a late cold snap, and the fruit colors and ripens from mid-June into September depending on the cultivar.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: late winter to early spring while dormant (bare-root)
- Harvest: blooms early spring; fruit ripens mid-June to mid-September by cultivar
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 5–9
Temperature: down to -29°C
Troubleshooting
A nectarine's bare, smooth skin puts every blemish on show where a fuzzy peach would mask it, so trouble surfaces first on the fruit and the tender new leaves. Read those early marks and you can meet a fungus or a borer before it sets the tree back. Match what you see below, then step in while it still counts.
Fuzzy gray-brown patches creeping across fruit on the branch
Those soft, fuzzy gray-brown patches spreading over the skin are brown rot, the mark of Monilinia fungi that race through warm, humid air, and a nectarine's bare skin takes it up faster than most stone fruit. Pick off every shriveled, mummified fruit and cut out the infected twigs, then open the canopy so air can dry the wood. A fungicide laid on at bloom and again before harvest keeps the rot from taking the crop.
Fix:
- Remove mummified fruit and infected twigs, prune for airflow, and apply fungicide at bloom and before harvest
Oozing gum and sawdust-like frass gathered at the trunk base
Beads of gum oozing from the bark and a scatter of sawdust-like frass at the trunk base give away peachtree borers, the pale larvae of a clearwing moth that chew through the lower wood and can girdle a young tree. A strong, vigorous tree walls off much of that damage on its own. Dig out the larvae where the gum shows, and time the trunk sprays to the weeks when the moths are on the wing.
Fix:
- Keep trees vigorous, remove larvae, and time trunk sprays to moth flight
New leaves puckered, thickened, and flushed red in spring
New leaves that pucker, thicken, and flush a deep red are showing peach leaf curl, brought on by the fungus Taphrina deformans that slips into the buds while spring stays cool and wet. Once a leaf has warped and swollen there is no smoothing it out again that year. A dormant fungicide laid over the bare wood in late winter, before the buds swell, is what keeps the next flush flat and green.
Fix:
- Apply a dormant fungicide spray in late winter before bud swell
Silvery scars and rough patches roughening the fruit skin
The silvery streaks and rough, corky patches roughening the skin are the feeding marks of western flower thrips on the young fruit, and a nectarine's smooth, unbroken skin shows every scar a fuzzy peach would have hidden. The scarring rides only on the surface, so the flesh underneath stays sweet and sound. Look for the thin pale insects at bloom and petal fall, and treat only if their numbers climb past the threshold.
Fix:
- Monitor at bloom and petal fall and treat if thresholds are exceeded
Toxicity
The ripe flesh is safe and sweet, but the rest of the tree is not. The hard pits, the leaves, the twigs, and the bark hold cyanogenic glycosides that release cyanide, and limp wilted leaves are especially dangerous to grazing animals. Keep prunings and fallen pits well away from pets and livestock, and never let anyone eat the pit.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Safe for
People
Cats Toxic
A cat that bites into the leaves or stems may drool, vomit, or turn from its food. The sharper danger is the cyanide held in the pit and foliage, which can bring dilated pupils, labored breathing, and a racing heart.
Dogs Toxic
A dog that chews the leaves or a fallen pit may vomit, loosen into diarrhea, and pant heavily. The hard pit can lodge in the gut, and a large mouthful of plant material risks cyanide poisoning.
Horses Toxic
Horses face a grave risk, and limp, wilted leaves carried into the paddock are the worst threat of all. Cyanide poisoning surfaces as brick-red gums, fast breathing, staggering weakness, and sudden collapse.
Rabbits Toxic
The leaves, twigs, and hard pits carry cyanogenic compounds far past what a rabbit's small body can clear, so none of it belongs in the hutch. A bite or two of ripe, pitted flesh is the only part worth offering.
Livestock Toxic
Cattle, goats, and sheep are most exposed to wilted prunings pitched over a fence, where the drying leaves hold the cyanide most concentrated. Poisoning comes on fast, with breathing distress, trembling, and collapse.
Birds Caution
Keep birds clear of the pits, leaves, and bark, since the cyanogenic glycosides are no gentler on them. A little ripe flesh is fine, but the seed sealed inside the pit should never be offered.
People Ripe flesh safe
The ripe flesh, smooth-skinned and sweet, is a summer favorite and perfectly safe to eat. The one part to leave alone is the pit, since the kernel inside carries the same cyanide-releasing compounds as the leaves.
Keep pits and pruned leaves and stems away from pets and livestock; ripe flesh in moderation is not a concern.
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
Poison Control: (800) 222-1222
Canada
Poison Centres: 1-844-764-7669
Varieties
Nectarines come in dozens of named types, but a few freestone cultivars, set apart by the color of their skin and flesh, come up again and again for flavor and reliability. These are the ones worth knowing.
Fantasia
A large freestone whose firm yellow flesh and vivid, striking skin place it among the highest quality nectarines grown.
Redgold
A large freestone with yellow flesh, prized for its eating quality and for how widely it adapts from one region to the next.
Independence
A freestone clothed in red skin over yellow flesh that sets fruit on its own, so a single tree crops without a second pollinator nearby.
How to propagate
There are two ways to start a nectarine, and only one hands back the fruit you picture. Grafting copies a known cultivar down to its skin and flesh, while a pit grows into a gamble.
GraftingDemanding
Named nectarines are budded or grafted onto peach or plum rootstock, the join that holds a cultivar true to type in the nursery. It asks a steady hand and some practice at fitting bud to stem, which is why most growers buy a grafted tree rather than raise one.
SeedModerate
The hard, wrinkled pit sprouts once a stretch of cold, moist stratification breaks its dormancy. The seedling will not match its parent, so what rises is a tree of its own kind rather than a copy of the fruit the pit came from.
Myths
A nectarine is a cross between a peach and a plum.
It is no hybrid. A nectarine is a smooth, fuzzless peach, the very same species Prunus persica, and the whole difference is a single recessive gene that strips the fine fuzz from the skin.
Nectarines are a separate species from peaches.
The two are one species, and a nectarine is a peach wearing a bare, smooth skin in place of fuzz. That fuzzless skin keeps reappearing from the same single-gene mutation, which is why both trees take the same care and fall to the same pests.