Nectarine Trees

How to choose a nectarine tree

The Goldmine Nectarine Tree is an old Australian favourite with white flesh, a free stone and sweet, juicy fruit under red blushed cream skin, ripening from mid to late summer. It is considered low chill, so it crops in warm temperate and mild districts as well as cooler ones. The Fantasia Nectarine Tree carries large, yellow fleshed, freestone fruit with bright red skin and a firm, tangy sweet bite. It needs moderate winter chill.

The Peacharine Tree is a cross between a peach and a nectarine, with large, yellow fleshed fruit in mid to late summer. For small spaces, the Trixzie Nectazee Dwarf Nectarine is a true miniature about one and a half metres high and wide that still carries full sized, yellow fleshed fruit. The Dwarf Early Rivers Nectarine grows to about two to two and a half metres and is one of the earliest to ripen, with white, juicy fruit in early summer. All five are self fertile, so one tree crops alone.

Where nectarines grow

Nectarines want a cold winter to set flower buds and a dry summer to ripen clean fruit. They do well in cool and warm temperate and Mediterranean climates, and do poorly in humid subtropical gardens, where disease and fruit fly pressure are high and many varieties do not receive enough chill. Full sized trees reach three to four metres. Give them full sun and shelter from strong wind at blossom time.

For more choices, see our fruit trees, other deciduous trees and, for dwarf kinds, our plants for pots.

Planting and spacing

Plant in winter in deep, well drained soil, on a mound if the ground is heavy. Space full sized trees four metres apart and dwarf trees about two metres. A dwarf nectarine in a pot needs a container at least fifty centimetres across. Mulch well and keep the mulch off the trunk.

Care basics

Peach leaf curl is the main disease. It puckers and reddens the new leaves in spring, and the control is a copper spray at bud swell in late winter, before the buds open. Fruit fly attacks ripening fruit in many districts, so net the tree or bag the fruit well before it colours. Netting also keeps the birds off.

Prune in winter to an open vase shape. Nectarines fruit on wood grown the previous summer, so each year cut out some old wood to bring on new shoots. Thin heavy crops to one fruit every ten centimetres or so for larger fruit and unbroken branches. Water deeply while the fruit swells, and feed in early spring. The nectarine tree growing guide covers thinning, pruning for fruit and leaf curl in full.

Common questions

Do I need two nectarine trees?

No. The varieties described here are self fertile, so a single tree sets fruit.

How do I stop leaf curl?

Spray with copper at bud swell in late winter. Once the leaves have opened and curled, it is too late for that season.

Can I grow a nectarine in a pot?

Yes. Choose a dwarf variety, a large pot and a sunny position, and water regularly in summer.

Will nectarines fruit in the subtropics?

Most do poorly in humid subtropical gardens. Goldmine, a low chill variety, is the one to try in a mild district.