Well, I think you sort of answered your own questions in some ways -- spray the tree for insect and disease problems (the black spots are a common fungal disease of peaches -- the good news is that it's MOSTLY cosmetic, if not too heavy of an infection). Fertilize the tree more regularly. Thin the young fruit EVEN MORE so that the tree isn't "groaning" with the fruit -- it will give you larger, better quality fruit. Water as needed if rain isn't enough.

All of those things will help somewhat. However, the genetics of the tree will ultimately determine its quality -- it may not be a good quality fruit no matter what you do to it, so you might ultimately decide to take it out and replant with something better.

Dennis
SE Michigan

Your trees have Peach Scab. Nothing to worry about. If the leaves had tiny holes then it would be bacterial spot, bad. SSShh, you could keep all the peaches for yourself.

Uh-oh.... you mean holes like this?

{{gwi:124225}}

Altho' looking back over my pictures, I realize the "good" peach tree had similar hole-y leaves.

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What we didn't have this year, that the old tree had for the last two years, was red, blistered leaves that curled up and looked deformed. When that was worst it seemed the peaches never matured past little green ping-pong balls.

Is there a good site to help me determine what kind of peach tree this is, or is that difficult to do after the fact?

What you need to do is spray dormant oil with copper(for fruit trees) in fall and early spring. Dormant sprays take care of the blistered leaves(called peach leaf curl) and controls fungal diseases and kills tiny insect eggs over wintering on the tree bark. Prune branches to an open center over the trunk. Sunshine disinfects. There are many varieties of peaches and many grow close to 'true from seed'. Do you think probably someone planted seeds on their lunch hour?

Thanks! I'll look into the spraying this fall. We've now got *3* peach trees at work -- I think that makes it worth the effort to get the spraying equipment!

The "bad" peach was a clearance bin bargain from WalMart, or Odd Lots -- my boss is a sucker for a bargain.

My boss pruned the two older trees this spring, and did a pretty good job I think. They are open, with little or no branches crossing each other.

I'm still trying to research what type of treee the older peach is. Unlike the Reliance, which is vase-shaped with simple flowers, the older one is wmbrella shaped and has very frilly, almost double flowers. My boss planted the third one this spring -- he says it's a named variety, but he tossed the tag! I'm a little worried about that one; it's in a very windy spot, and because of the slope where it's planted it was hard to really loosen up the soil and give it a lot of amendements. Altho' it seems to have done really well this summer, more than doubling to about 6'.

Thanks again for the advice on the spray -- I'm already looking roward to next summer!

Another peach tree--YUM. Use lots of manure on that tree for water retention/nutrients. Remember, the dormant spray is the most important one. Use 'Fruit Tree Spray' for you cover sprays. Search the forum for details.