peach tree

[schmism]

There is a rather old (15+ year) peach tree on our new property. It has suffered from years of neglect including storm damage that was never pruned off.

When i got to it late last summer/early fall me and bow saw were busy. Last summer you could hardly tell there was a peach tree mixed in with all the other brush and saplings that had grown up around it.

The last of those came down (chain saw time) this past weekend as the peach is starting to bloom.

So the question, spay? Last year it was attacked farily hard with japaneese beetles and id perfer not to have that happen again this year.

what do you spray for? (some sort of fungus leaf curl?) do you have to spay? Is it preventaive? or Accute treament?

btw i didnt make it to the pear tree in the back this winter (**** time flys) and so ill have to wait till this fall to attack it.

 

[dmccarty]

Check you county/state extension office. They should have info for your area on when to spray, what to spray, and why to spray. What might be a problem in say GA may not even be seen in your area.

Later,
Dan

 

[TwinWillows]

We have a commercial peach orchard about 3 hours south of you in West KY - peaches need to be sprayed regularly to combat fungus & insects. Try this link for a good peach resource applicable to the midwest.

(captan is good for fungus & seven zaps the jap beetels)

ID-93: Midwest Tree Fruit Pest Management Handbook

 

[Glenn9643]

You should be able to find an "orchard spray" at your feed and seed store that has fungicides, pesticides, etc.
Rather than spray with specific chemicals this is what I use each year on my peaches. Good luck.

 

[WayneB]

There is a rather old (15+ year) peach tree on our new property. It has suffered from years of neglect including storm damage that was never pruned off.

When i got to it late last summer/early fall me and bow saw were busy. Last summer you could hardly tell there was a peach tree mixed in with all the other brush and saplings that had grown up around it.

The last of those came down (chain saw time) this past weekend as the peach is starting to bloom.

So the question, spay? Last year it was attacked farily hard with japaneese beetles and id perfer not to have that happen again this year.

what do you spray for? (some sort of fungus leaf curl?) do you have to spay? Is it preventaive? or Accute treament?

btw i didnt make it to the pear tree in the back this winter (**** time flys) and so ill have to wait till this fall to attack it.

Each to their own, but I have several fruit trees, including apple 4 varieties, 3 sweet cherry, 6 peach trees, 8 pear trees, 1/3 acre of raspberries and some black berries. I do not spray any chemicals on my land. I figure I can grow enough and do not worry about a bug attack. The Japanese Beetles are bad at times and I do have traps to catch them. Also spend time picking and squeezing them, now that's lots of fun.

All of the fruit is for our own use, although we do give a bunch of it away to friends and neighbors. I haven’t had the problems with any of our fruit trees and can live with a few scabs on the apples from time to time and blemishes on some of the fruit.

We haven’t had a problem with our peach trees and seem to get a bumper crop every year. Same with the pears and the hardest fruit is the apples. We have early apples (yellow) that we pick in mid July and they seem to be in good shape, but we also have late apples (wine sap and Northern spies) that have scabs every year. Mainly cooking apples so it isn’t that big of a deal once it is made into applesauce or pie.

I guess my thoughts are if you have a limited number of trees you might be able to manage without spraying. Commercial orchards have to control spray and provide a market worthy product. As a home gardener I would find it difficult to manage a chemical spraying program.

As for the pear tree I would think you could start with a limited amount of trimming this spring and if it is an older tree you might want to be careful and take a few years to correct the neglect. In the north we either trim in the late fall or early spring. If it is management trimming then it is okay to do it in the spring and the tree won’t suffer too badly. If you are doing aggressive trimming I would think you would wait and do it in late fall.

 

[ToadHill]

The best fungicide I have found is Banner Max.

 

[SELKIRK]

OK- This might seem extreme for some but this is what I would do.

With a tree this old 15+ I have found that peachs lose steam and never produce like a young one. So all the spray and work is wasted on a declining tree. So cut it down and use the wood for your BBQ pit(make great tasting BBQ).

Then plant a new bareroot tree. They are very cheap $20 and will be producing in two years. Check with the county extension or local master garden group for the right one for your area. It all has to due with chill units and such for the right one, and they have killed enough trees to know the right ones. No use in planting something that will never produce.

But if you really like the tree and plan on keeping it. I would prune it back heavy/heavy 40% and give it two years to produce or make BBQ out of it.
Some times I could get a couple more years out of declining tree this way.





Selkirk

 

[schmism]

I think i want to add 2 trees this year.

This fall it will get a second round of heavy trimming. But i have high hopes for this year based on a few good "young" branches, should yeld well.