That looks like peach scab. There are several treatments; I use a sulphur spray at 6-8 weeks after bloom, which was not long ago for me. The fruit is still perfectly edible, but some fruits that get it badly do not size up as well and may have tough skin.

Scott

Can I spray the sulfur solution on the fruits? Or is it too late. I need prevention prior?

Digdug:

I believe your peaches have peach bacterial spot, although if you Google this term and "peach scab", you will find the two diseases difficult to distinguish. After years of wrestling with this distinction, I more or less concluded that bacterial spots are usually spread farther apart, as yours are, often beginning on the lower part of the peach, and are darker in color. I believe that peach scab usually begins at the top of the peach near the stem, then spreads outward, eventually forming a solid mass.

I have had both of these diseases many times, and both are highly damaging to peaches. Yes, you can still eat them, but it's not much fun to do so, since you cannot even properly peel a peach with either of these diseases, which often affect the flesh to a depth of 1/4 inch or more. Many people peel peaches before eating, and peeling is standard procedure before freezing peaches, which is what happens to most of ours. While it is very important to try to prevent even minor damage to the fruits, in many cases the scab or spot spreads and stops growth of the peaches which of course is even worse.

I wish you would not require us to guess where you live, but from the size of those peaches I have to guess somewhere in the coastal or interior Southeast. The rainy spring weather and early warming of the entire mid-Atlantic favors both of these diseases. Once these diseases are established on peaches, there is nothing to be done, since prevention is the key here, not cure. Application of bleach would be very unwise, and sulfur would not help at this point either. In fact, I believe sulfur to be useless against these diseases at any stage.

Bacterial spot can also infect the leaves of peach trees, causing them to spot, turn yellow, and eventually fall off. The disease is also expressed by lesions on the limbs and twigs that exhibit sap leakage. Three or four years of unchecked bacterial disease can easily kill a peach tree. I have had pretty good luck with control of bacterial disease by applying two dormant sprays of a strong copper product called Kocide. Applications should be made in late fall, and again just before bud break.

The most effective preventative that I have found against peach scab, which you will also no doubt see sooner or later, is a good spray of Daconil fungicide immediately after shuck split, and another around a week later while the peaches are still very small. I have tried other fungicides, including Captan and Topsin, and they do not seem to work for me. No spray will be effective once the peaches begin to size up, because the diseases are already there, though you cannot yet see them.

You don't mention the variety of peach you have there, but most modern peach varieties are bred to color up red well before they are soft ripe, and can hang on the trees for over two weeks while bright red and still not be soft and sweet enough to pick. Commercial growers have discovered that consumers prefer bright red peaches, but still need a hard peach to ship. Truth be told, many yellow peach varieties taste much better than the highly colored reds. Color is not a good indicator of flavor.

Finally, if keeping the "organic" faith is more important to you than growing good peaches, I doubt that you will ever grow decent peaches. There are some places in the country, mostly those that see warm dry weather during the growing season, that could pull off an organic peach, but not many of them are east of the Mississippi river. And so far we have talked only about diseases, not insects like the plum curculio and oriental fruit moth, which are normally present in the same areas that suffer from disease. Nor have we discussed brown rot, which often strikes later in the season. For the backyard orchardist, growing peaches is quite difficult, requiring all the help available from timely use of fungicides and insecticides.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Thank you all for the great replies!
I live in Houston, Texas.

The peach trees dont seem to have many problems here, other than this bacteria. Sometimes, when they are dormant (just sticks) we get a strange problem where they spew out sap from the trunk into little bubbles of amber. We think this is because of some beetle, but havent caught any in the act.

We have two trees: One has peaches a little larger than a golfball, slightly smaller than a baseball. The other has golfball sized fruits. The peaches on top are turning bright red, but are still very firm.

Does a copper sulfate solution work when applied in the fall? (To clarify, only spray when they are dormant trees?)

Diggy,

Fall copper is mainly for peach leaf curl and won't have much (if any) effect on your fruit issue.

Two possibilities have been mentioned for your malady. While Don gave much good advice, I'll have side with Scott on this one and go with peach scab. Every time I've seen bac. spot on my peaches, I see quite a bit of evidence (shot hole) on the leaves. In fact, I always see it on the leaves first. Your leaves look pretty clean.

Copper won't do anything for scab. For an organic approach, try the sulphur. I have no experience with it's efficacy against peach scab since I use synthetics. However, you may not be able to get by with one spray as Scott does. Peach scab has the potential to affect the fruit all season long. One of your photos shows a possible shoot canker. Scab can cause those cankers (as can bac. spot) which would indicate a high level of inoculum.

Diggy:

There is nothing strange about the sap-spewing from the trunk of your tree. That is most likely bacterial canker disease, and is closely related to the problems on your fruit. Beetles are not involved in this process. If your leaves are still asymptomatic, I cannot explain that except to say that all symptoms of bacterial disease do not necessarily appear simultaneously in a package, though eventually I believe they will.

The type of copper I use to combat this complex of diseases is not copper sulfate but copper hydroxide, which is a form that is much more effective on fruit trees. The Kocide product I use is very high in fixed copper equivalent, which is the standard usually used to judge the strength of a copper solution. Bacterial diseases overwinter on the trees, and continue to build year after year unless the process is interrupted. I suggested applying copper both in spring and fall when symptoms are present, but why would you not also apply in spring just before bud break?

Copper may also be somewhat effective against peach scab, to the extent that the disease overwinters on the trees, but this disease is capable of blowing in afresh every season, which makes the spring application of an effective fungicide important. I do not consider sulfur to be a particularly effective fungicide for a tenacious foe like peach scab, which is why I suggested Daconil, applied very early when the disease arrives.

I am surprised you do not have regular issues with plum curculio and oriental fruit moth in the Houston area. How long have you been growing peaches, and are you confident you can identify damage from these insects? When peaches begin to turn red before achieving full size, that is usually because their growth has been interrupted or stopped entirely. Such peaches will not grow up to what you want them to be. You need to take a closer look at your peaches to figure out what is really going on, and it could be more than one thing, although the bacterial spot alone is enough to pretty well ruin your peaches.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Okay, I think I understand.
My peaches are suffering from:
1. Peach Scab (The spots on the fruits)

2. Canker disease (The mauled looking bark)

After some research, it seems that the only cures are preventative. I will work harder next year to try to solve my problems. Apply copper hydroxide in fall and spring.

I looked into the Curculio and fruit moth, but I don't recognize either of those bugs, or their damage marks.

Some of our other trees have caterpillars that fold leaves over and make a little home in there. I cannot identify these, but I am smashing them just about every day.

I have had success with sulfur on apple trees: We had some apple trees that got completely covered with a powdery white fungus. 3 full surface applications of sulfur took care of that nicely, but that is a much different problem.

Are there any other major problems that I should keep an eye out for? Thanks so much for all the advice!

Would some more pictures of something help identify my problems?

-Charles
Houston, TX

Hi there!

I'm in Houston too. I think I have the same problem. What if not, what do you think my issue is?

Renee,

Your issue is insect damage. It can be any of a few insects but I am inclined to think it's done by Oriental Fruit moth. Look it up.

You can cut that section off with small sharp knife. If you can remove the bug egg, the rest of the fruit could be safe. If the larvae has tunneled inside,. Your peach is toasted. Sooner or later, fruit will drop.

Just picked some today in Coyle Ok that had the same spots

Hello,

I am in Bossier City, Louisiana. Northwest corner of Louisiana and I have both the spots on my peaches and the plum curculio beetle larvae inside my peaches. Will using tea tree oil treatment work for the larvae? I have eaten many peaches with both the spots and the worms. i cut out the skin with the spots side on them and i carefully look for worms and cut those areas out too? Is there any issue with my method if i cannot manage to get rid of the worms or spots? I saw on here they mentioned the sulphur and copper hydroxide treatments in late fall and before bloom. I will try that also, any other things i should know? Thanks for all the good info.

i have the same issue with my peaches and not sure if they are save to eat or not at all i have 3 peach trees and these peaches have have spots and i dont want my kids to pick at them if they are not safe and so i wanted to know if there is anything i can do. i also live in colorado.

I just look for the worms and cut them out if they are in the peach. It is best to look for the plum curculio damage in early spring and spray and pick off any fruit that have been bitten. The spots are safe to eat and were eaten all the time by past generations. The only thing that may be affected is taste. I would rather eat a spotted peach than a store bought peach any day. I live near the coast in Texas.

Da Shay,

the first pic looked like the beginning of brown rot.

thanks i bought my house 3 years ago and the peach trees were already here its just my first year ggetting them and i have been cerious with the spotss and not sure about it. i try doing research and i came across this site and i like how i can get feed back right away. is there anything i can use to treat them i have not found any worms in the ones that were picked just spots

Peaches have several diseases that will show up after a few years. Then, there are a few pests that damage the fruit.

Spray wettable sulfur like Kocide 3000 in late fall after leaves are mostly gone and in early spring before trees leaf out can prevent a few bacterial and fungal diseases. If you do have brown rot, look for a product like Monterey Fungi Fighter or Indar. Follow the label. Not all funcicide create equal.

Then, read up on insecticide. Those Oriental Fruit Moth, plum curculios, stinkbugs, codling moths will find your fruit sooner than later.

look up reputable university extension services like Cornell, Penn State or North Carolina State Extension services. Check their fact sheets on peaches. It is worth reading up and prepare for it.

I live in NC and inherited several peach trees with the property we bought. I have plum cucurlio damage constantly. Any suggestions on control? I have sprayed with spinosad, but still lots of damage, so that 80+% of fruit drops and rots. HELP!

It the fruit drops, you need to pick it up and dispose of it off site. If the fruit is slit and and an egg is laid, pick that fruit off and dispose of it off site. The dropped fruit is where the worm grows and pupates and produces another generation. I have a low pressure of worms due to no one having fruit around me.

You need to check your fruit daily and when you see the fruit has been attacked by the plum curculio, dispose of infected fruit and spray all the trees with fruit. Over time you should be able to reduce the pest pressure. It is hard to thin out the affected fruit but in the long run will help you control the worms.

NC State U extension services has really good info for peach growers. You could contact them for advice.

If you want to stay organic, you should look to use Surround, water soluble kaolin clay, for protectant spray. Plum curculios and oriental fruit moths do serious damage on peaches for several months. You need to spray several times and time it well, too. Doing it organically may not be as effective.

For chemical, some seem to swear by Imidan.

garybeaumont_gw (TX 9a) Yes, I regularly pick and dispose of the damaged fruit, but it hasn't made an appreciable difference.

rphcfb14, I once bought Surround, but it clogged up my pump sprayer and wouldn't spray properly. What do you use to spray it with? Spinosad is also a biological and I believe is considered organic, isn't it? This last spring, I sprayed with Sevin after the small fruits has formed, and shortly after, had almost complete fruit drop. I was shocked! Not sure if the spray caused it or not. Won't try that again!

What is this on my peaches?