Oregon Curlfree is my favorite peach tree to grow, hands down! It might be yours, too, once you get to know it! Come into my post to find out more about a productive and disease-resistant peach tree with fruit that is so delicious and juicy -- right off the tree!

That's a pretty peach! And pretty amazing to eat, too!

Peach Leaf Curl

For fruit growers, the benefit of this tree is right in its name -- Curlfree! Peach leaf curl is the scourge of peach growers everywhere where the spring weather is wet and cool, with temperatures generally below 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Peach trees can be really challenging to grow - or even keep alive - in those cool and wet springtime conditions.

The scourge of peach growers! Peach leaf curl. It can kill a tree in a few years.

Plenty of folks will spray to prevent peach leaf curl, but that costs money. And that spraying has to be consistent over time, with each spraying done at just the right time.

The Oregon Curlfree Peach tree doesn't need any of that! It's resistant to Peach Leaf Curl. So it's a great peach for growing organic fruit.

There's no peach leaf curl there!

A Pretty Little Peach Tree

Oregon Curlfree is a pretty little peach tree. It's a smaller sized tree that fits will in an urban landscape. It's easy to keep at only 8 feet high. And it does well even when it's not in full, direct sun all day. The tree and its pink blossoms look nice enough for growing in a front yard, too!

The Oregon Curlfree Peach would look nice in any neighborhood front yard.

The Best Peach I Have Ever Eaten!

But what about the peaches? Oregon Curlfreee peaches are the best flavored peaches I have ever eaten! They are amazing as a peach for eating fresh, right off the tree. That's the advantage of a homegrown Oregon Curlfree peach -- you can wait until they are really ripe.

Curlfree peaches aren't the most colorful peach. But don't be fooled by that green cast on the shoulders of the fruit!

Oregon Curlfree peaches don't necessarily look ripe, because they keep a greenish cast, even when they are soft. When the top of the peaches give a little, under the pressure of your thumb, they are perfect!

A little press on the top of the fruit will tell if it's ripe. When it gives, just a bit -- that's the right time for Curlfree!

Some peaches will get mealy and lose flavor if they are left to mature on the tree too long. Not Oregon Curlfree! They just get sweeter and sweeter, peachier and peachier, and juicier and juicier! If you're going to eat the peach, whole, do it outdoors, leaning over, so all that juice doesn't dribble down your shirt!

That's the look of folks enjoying a super juicy, super delicious peach, right off the tree! These two guys demonstrate the best way to eat berries, too!

Best Uses of an Oregon Curlfree Peach

There are folks that don't like the fuzziness of a peach - and Oregon Curlfree peaches are fuzzy! But they peel so easily when they are ripe! And they are cling-free, or freestone, peaches, too. So the pits some out clean and easy. That makes for a pretty peach to serve on a plate.

Look how nice those two halves separate! The pit comes out really easy from a freestone, or clingfree, style of peach, like Curlfree.

I don't think that Oregon Curlfree make very good peaches for cooking, canning, or freezing, because they are a low-acid peach. Instead, because they don't get ripe all at one, just enjoy the amazing abundance of eating fresh peaches, day after day, for a month or longer, in the middle of peach season, depending on the weather.

Look how easy that peach peels! I don't mind a fuzzy peach, but some folks prefer peaches without the peel and fuzz.

Use other peach varieties for cooking or preserving. I'll show you my recommendation of that sort of peach to grow in the next Tree Tuesday, so stay tuned! :D

Curlfree is such great peach, but it's so tender, you won't find the fruit for sale in any market!

Get An Oregon Curlfree Peach Tree

Where can you get an Oregon Curlfree peach tree to plant yourself? The Oregon Curlfree peach is just starting to show up on a few lists of recommended varieties from fruit growing groups. They are on the recommended lists from California, Oregon, and Connecticut Cooperative Extension, so it's well adapted to conditions in those states and places like them.

Oregon Curlfree is a great peach for growing without having to spray chemicals. No peach leaf curl.

Oregon Curlfree peach trees are yet not sold by a lot of nurseries. I got my tree by mail order from One Green World in Oregon 6 years ago, and have been harvesting peaches for 5 years. I've seen it offered by Rolling River Nursery in California, too. I'm not affiliated with either place. If you ever see it offered somewhere else, I'd appreciate you letting me know!

And loads of the best tasting peach I have ever had, fresh from the tree!

Bottom Line

I've been so pleased with my Oregon Curlfree peach tree. It has been so free of disease! If you've had trouble with peach leaf curl and like to eat fresh peaches, this could be the right variety for you! If you want to hear a live review of how they taste, I have a video review of this peach tree, too.

In July and August, I eat a lot of peaches! Such abundance, with so little effort. It hardly seems right.

What Do You Think?

I hope you get a chance to try the Oregon Curlfree Peach sometime -- or enjoy whatever peach grows well in your area!

• Do you like to eat peaches?
• Have you ever grown any peaches?
• What's your favorite kind of peach?
• Have you heard of the Curlfree peach?

Thanks to @old-guy-photos for the Tree Tuesday tag! And to all the tree lovers!

Haphazard Homestead

foraging, gardening, nature, simple living close to the land
All content is 100% Haphazard Homestead!My YouTube channel: Haphazard Homestead