Lilacs:

Your peaches have been visited by the oriental fruit moth. The damage probably occurred some time ago, but is now becoming easily visible due to the oozing of pectin. The peaches may continue to ripen (although some may fall), but when you take them down the affected peaches will be seriously deteriorated around the pit area, and some larvae may be present.

I don't know how long you have been growing peaches, or the severity of OFM pressures in your particular part of Colorado. In my area of Northern Virginia OFM is a constant presence from early spring right through midsummer. I either have to spray in a timely manner, beginning right at the fruit thinning stage, or bag the peaches in shoe store "footies", or both. I would expect OFM pressure to be less in the dryer, higher climate of Colorado, but in a given year it could be pretty bad.

Weather has not caused your peach problems, nor is it a disease. It's a very nasty moth.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Could this be the reason why, earlier this year, quite a few (even most) of the newly developed peaches shriveled on the vine when they were barely dime sized? Granted, I've only owned this place for a couple years, but I've never seen that before.

We had drought and high temperatures this year, following a dry winter.

That's very disheartening. I was looking forward to peach pie. Is there an organic treatment I can use next year? I don't want to put any honeybees at risk. A couple months ago I had a beeswarm in my peach tree.

Thanks.

Hmm. Discard them or compost them? I've been tossing them into the compost bin, and now I'm having second thoughts about that.

This does explain why a lot of the oozing seems to come from an injury to the fruit. I thought perhaps it was just a twig sticking them when the wind blows them around, but in hindsight I bet that's the insect entry point.

I didn't bother thinning this year. The squirrels and the shriveled up peaches thinned them plenty enough. As for bagging them, a lot of the peaches are way out of my reach, even with a ladder, either too high or on the other side of the fence, so I couldn't bag them. Where do you buy the footies?

Every year I grow edibles, I learn something, usually by trial and error.

Lilacs:

Most of us who use footies on peaches buy them at Store Supply Warehouse. Google them. You want the ladies size, not the men's.

I can think of a couple of options that might allow you to grow edible peaches next season. The first would be to prune the tree down to a height you can reach from your ladder, then select the best undamaged young fruitlets and thin off all the others until they are a minimum of 7-8 inches apart on the twigs and branches. Then bag the selected peaches immediately before the insects reach them.

You could also leave the tree as is, and select and bag as many as you can reach, essentially writing off all those peaches you cannot. I would favor option #1, but that does involve some pruning, perhaps heavy pruning. I am a believer in keeping peach trees under control unless you want to grow them as landscape specimens.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I inherited this peach tree when I bought the house, and it was the size it was. Any heavy pruning would probably have to be done by a professional, and someday I'll get to that. Quite a few of my trees need to be pruned.

I guess next year what I'll do is bag the ones I can get to and let the rest go. I have a long fruit grabber, so I can get some of the peaches that are high up. I just wouldn't be able to bag them. If the bugs get them, I'll have to write them off. But I may well be able to get a lot that the bugs haven't gotten to.

We'll see. Thanks for your comments.

I have just purchased a elberta peach tree, it is small but has about 15 peaches. there is the oozing of a clear sticky liquid. What would I use for spray and should I remove the infected peaches. I noticed additional trees at the nursery that were infected. Thanks, Ed

If the fruit ooze sticky liquid, that' the sign of bug entering the fruit. Pick fruit off and cut the fruit up. You probably will see worms inside. Do not let fruit laying on the ground for more breeding. Throw them out with trash.

Also, your tree is young. Pick off all the fruit. Let the tree uses its energy to establish and grow. Peach is easy to fruit. It will have more flowers and fruit next year.

In the meantime, read up old posts on peach issues. It is not an easy fruit tree to grow. All you need to do is Google, "Gardenweb, peach tree issues", many old threads will come up. You should spend your time reading up so you can be ready for next year.

Peach problems can affect leaves, trunk, fruit. There are fungus, bacteria and many insects that like your peach tree. I do not want to discourage you. I want you to be realistic and ready for what may come your (peach tree) way.