Fairtime Peach Tree

Fairtime Peach Tree is the variety for gardeners who are not ready to let peach season end. While most trees have already finished, Fairtime carries large fruit into early fall, bringing the fragrance and abundance of summer to a point in the calendar when fresh homegrown peaches feel especially precious. Its yellow freestone flesh is firm, juicy, and richly flavored, with balanced sweetness and enough bright acidity to remain lively.

The handsome red-blushed fruit is satisfying fresh and substantial enough for canning, freezing, pies, cobblers, jams, and preserves. A late harvest also spreads the work and pleasure of the orchard instead of concentrating every crop into midsummer. For shoppers planning a sequence of ripening varieties, Fairtime is more than another peach—it is the tree that provides a memorable finale and keeps the season going after nearly everything else is done.

A freestone peach, Fairtime is easy to prepare and particularly versatile in the kitchen. The fruit is delicious eaten fresh from the tree and has enough size, flavor and structure for pies, cobblers, preserves and canning. It is also considered an excellent peach for freezing, allowing gardeners to preserve part of a generous late-season crop for use during the winter.

Fairtime is self-fruitful, so it can produce fruit without another peach tree nearby. The tree is known for carrying heavy crops of unusually large peaches, making fruit thinning especially important. Removing some developing fruit gives the remaining peaches room to reach their best size and helps prevent heavily loaded branches from breaking.

Grown on Citation rootstock, Fairtime develops into a productive semi-dwarf tree that is more manageable than a standard peach. Its very late harvest makes it especially valuable when combined with earlier-ripening varieties. Consider planting it with Eva’s Pride Peach for an early-season harvest or Mid-Pride Peach for fruit during the middle of the peach season. Together, these varieties can provide a much longer progression of fresh peaches.

Fairtime Peach Tree Details

• Tree size: Semi-dwarf on Citation rootstock
• USDA zones: 5–9
• Chill hours: 400–500 hours
• Bloom period: Mid-season
• Harvest period: Mid-September – late September, with timing varying by region and season
• Fruit: Very large yellow freestone peach with an attractive red blush
• Flavor and texture: Rich, well-balanced traditional peach flavor with firm, smooth and juicy yellow flesh
• Pollination: Self-fruitful; another peach tree is not required
• Best uses: Fresh eating, baking, canning, preserves and freezing
• Special care: Thin developing fruit to improve peach size and protect heavily loaded limbs
• Something Special: The USDA released Fairtime from its Fresno breeding program; the name highlights fruit that arrives around late-summer fair season.

Orchard Planning Resources

• Choose the right bare root tree
• Learn how to plant a bare root tree
• Compare tree characteristics, chill hours and pollination needs
• Compare fruit tree rootstocks