Hmm, if you've verified it's not peach leaf curl, then that's a big problem. Peach leaf curl would actually be nice, because it's manageable. If they're drooping and falling off, with no other apparent signs of disease, I'd say it seems *something* is starving the leaves of water. Root damage in planting? Root rot? How's your soil drainage? I assume you would have mentioned if the trunk was split or something of that nature, right?

Standard methods to reduce water stress, if something is indeed causing water stress:

1) Shade the plant (most important; it takes a tree a long time to starve from insufficient sunlight, but it can die rather quickly from water loss)
2) Prune off lower, more shaded (ie, less important) branches (optional; further reduces transpiration, but the consequences are more permanent than providing shade)
3) Increase its relative humidity via partial bagging (optional; decreases transpiration, but can increase risk if your problem is really fungal)

I really think you may just want to wait this out and see what happens. Planting trees that are growing in a pot into the ground is tricky without damaging some of the roots.

Lexie:

It was a mistake to bring home a containerized tree and wait until leafing and bloom before setting it in the ground. Fruit trees are best transplanted when they are fully dormant, which your tree was when you brought it home.

I think you have a classic case of transplant shock, which can occur any time the roots of an actively growing tree are disturbed. You don't really describe your transplant procedure in detail, but if dirt fell off when you removed the tree from the container, exposing some of the roots, that is where the problem occurred. Fruit trees are very forgiving when transplanted in dormancy, but when they are actively growing it is a different story.

About all you can do now is wait and see if the tree can overcome this shock and resume growth. If it does, be sure to remove any and all blossoms and fruit for the first couple of seasons while the tree recovers.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

take it back to home depot and get another mediocre variety of peach. if you buy from home depot, I don't have lots of sympathy but at least they guarantee their crap.

I am going to say that you didn't give the tree ENOUGH water. Newly transplanted trees can take as much water as you can stand to give them. You really don't have to monitor your watering, just turn the hose on at the base and let it soak in for a loooong time. The only thing I would do would be to water the heck out of it and wait.

i had a similar experiance with 2 plum trees. I have only been seriously gardening for 2 years now so i am no expert in this area, but here was my experiance: both plums trees had flowers and some leaves when i planted them. One tree had a quarter size plum. I planted in the spring and about two months later everything on them had died and fallen off (transplant shock I assume). After staring at them every day for about two months i finally assumed they were not going to make it but i kept watering them anyway . Then, they sprouted a new leaf, then another and another. Come fall they had grown about 2 ft i was amazed. So dont give up quite yet.

I have seen almost as many trees killed by overwatering as drought. All tree care requires some direct observation. Stick your hands in the soil and learn how to tell the difference between dry, moist and soppy wet. If this is too complicated to master you can always get a moisture meter.

Potting soil is extremely coarse and dries out in about a single sunny day. Even a bare-root tree needs moisture although not a lot. The thing is, the only virtue in buying almost anything at Home Depot is their refund policy- just take the thing back and you can get another probably mislabled peach tree that may or may not be a variety that does well in your area.

Have you noticed how often products from Home Depot break quickly, how vegie starts are often mislabled, and how they've put all the actually useful hardware stores out of business because Ameircans tend to prefer cheap over quality- forgetting how much time is wasted when a part for their sink rusts out prematurely or a light fixture shorts out.

O'er the laaaaand of the cheeeep! And the hooome .. of the ... saaaaaaaales!

I have found that moving trees at that point, leaves just coming out, seems to be a particularly sensitive point. I have lost several.

Scott

This happened to my buckeye tree I planted. It is fine now. It's shock from being transplanted. You might not have set the roots right too. You want to dig a hole deep enough so the whole root ball is completely underground. Then I use a bag of top soil to surround (lack of a better word) the root ball. Pat it down lightly to prevent air pockets from forming. Water it a lot to help set the roots. Also here is a lesson I just learned about peach trees. If there are tons and I mean tons of small blackish brown spots on the limbs, leafs, and fruit you got peach scab. As soon as I find out now to cure it I'll let you know.

A tree planted from a container usually has all its roots in the ball of soil that came from the container. When planted the ball remains intact with a difference of soil between the native and the potting soil. Until the roots actually grow into the native soil, which may take several weeks, it is important that the water is directed on TOP of the root ball. Your description is of a tree not getting enough water. Al

Okay so just to clear up some of the comments. I know it was a bad idea buying from Home Depot but that's about the only plant nursery near our house that sells trees. Also, I know that I planted it too late and I should have planted it when it was still dormant and I was thinking that maybe it could be transplant shock but its been a few weeks now and it still hasn't perked up. I'm leaning toward that it will recover just because the leaves are not falling off just drooping and they are still a healthy green.
Also, its not peach scab. There are no brown or black spots anywhere on it. The trunk looks good. We have very fertile soil but it is a little on the acidic side. I planted it in a sunny location of my yard and I don't water it everyday because although the top layer looks dry I've felt down several times and it was quite moist below the surface even when I go days without watering it. The ground in my whole yard is like that...it just stays moist. So that's why I was thinking it could be that the soil is not drying out in between waterings?? I dug a hole as deep as the root ball..actually a little deeper and wider so the soil would be soft when the roots start growing out. When I took it out of the container, I did not mess with the root system at all. It looked a little rootbound. I gently placed it in the hole and covered it. So no I didn't disturb the roots very much.

Lexie

Dont be too hard on yourself. Yeah, you made a mistake or two, but you also did some good things too. Stay on the positive side, and learn from your mistakes.

Growing fruit trees is a tough business. Youre going to learn everyday. You cant know everything and "industry standard" does not always apply, nor does one's opinion of inferior fruit.

Personally, I would take Don's advice...wait and see. Youre probably going to be fine, its just going to take some time.

Just remember, at the end of the day, make sure you ask all the questions you can, and read alot.

Good luck, and enjoy some good fruit in a year or two

Oso