I inherited a peach tree ....pruning? spraying? thinning?

15 years ago

My husband and I bought a house last spring and inherited a yard full of herbs, plants, flowers, and trees. The problem is, that our first 'spring' we just had fun letting things grow and seeing what they are, but now that we know, we want to take care of them. My main goal this year is to not screw up the peach tree. It is pretty established, but the house is only 6 years old, so it can't be that old. I have no idea what kind of peach tree it is. Last year we had a wet season, and we hardly had to water it. In fact, we didn't know it was a fruit tree until it had the fuzzy little green balls. Researching, we finally figured out it was a peach tree. It was LOADED last year, but all of the peaches were very small (maybe we didn't water enough though and thought we did?). We harvested a lot, I was able to freeze several quarts of sliced peaches, and they had wonderful taste. Now this year, I want to know what I need to do to get bigger peaches.

So here are my questions:

1. Do you thin early fruit? How and when?

2. Last season our tree's leaves had some fungus looking thing on it, which we heard on the radio was common last spring in our area, so I've read that you need to spray it with dormant fruit tree spray. Is it too late to do this? How do you know when a tree is no longer dormant? Springs are tricky in Kansas when there are warm days in Jan/Feb every now and then.

3. The birds were a real pain last year. Suggestions?

4. Should we be looking for things to prune?

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Comments (4)

Embothrium
15 years ago
For more information (notice all the pages on peach tree problems!)...

Here is a link that might be useful: Kansas State University - Fruits & Nuts
mark_roeder 4B NE Iowa
15 years ago
There will be folks on here with more expertise than me.

1. Thin fruit when they are abaout golf ball sized to one every 6 inches on an established tree.

2. Spray with a fruit tree spray during the season per instructions. I spray about every 10 - 14 days. The nice thing with your tree is that despite the wet weather you had peaches, and so in Kansas you are drier than here, and might be able to stretch the spray schedule out. Do not spray when they are blooming.

3. I have no suggstions concerning birds.

4. You want to prune your tree so that it opens up to allow maximum sunlight to your fruit. In other words most growers prune out the central leader.

Call the previous owner to ask the about the variety. They were undoubtedly avid gardeners and took pride in it and would be pleased that you asked and pleased that you are caring care for the tree they started. When you plant the next peach tree you can try a different variety that fruits on a different schedule to stretch out your season.
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olpea
15 years ago
Daisy,

Mark gave you some fine advice. Don't know what part of KS your from (some parts wet, some parts dry). Be cautious not to over-water if you're in the eastern part of the state. Generally don't need to start watering until around mid-June or July 1st if in the eastern part. Then only water thoroughly every couple weeks, if you use a little mulch around the trees.

Your fruit was small because you didn't thin. Generally better fruit size is achieved, the earlier you thin. Many commercial growers thin at bloom.

For your peach leaf-curl problem, go to a garden supply and get a bottle of chlorothalinil. It's sold under lots of brand names. Check the label to make sure it's labeled for peaches. It's not too late to spray for leaf curl, but you need to get the spray on, the next chance you get. If you want to spray an organic product, you can use Kocide (copper) but it's not as effective as chlorothalinil.
Michael
15 years ago
Daisy: If you are interested in reducing insecticide sprays, look into, "footies" via the search option at the top of this page. I and others have used the footies sucessfully on peaches. Last year I had scant evidence of bird damage through the footies but one poster here recently said it didn't slow the birds down a bit. Which general region of the state are you in, I'm in the north-central part? Sorry but I can't help with the pruning project except to say that it would help those who are able to help if you submitted pictures of the tree from several angles.

Michael