Peach, plum, and pear trees.

[Wolf-Kim]

The peach tree is the only one large enough to produce fruit and really the only one I'm taking an interest in. ((The father in law planted the other three, two pear and a plum LOL ))

We've only recently reclaimed the peach tree, it had been allowed to grow at it's whim and was too large and crowded to be healthy or even easy to work without a 15' ladder. It looks great now and is doing very well.

A friend of mine mentioned to another person that they sprayed their fruit trees and it made me think..... Need I be spraying my trees? When and what?

-Kim

 

[FarmerDenise]

We spray our peaches with a dormant oil spray. I think it is called bordeux (sp) mixture. It is mainly sulfur in an oil base. We spray it to help curb peach leaf curl. We don't spray it often enought to actually prevent the peach leaf curl. but we try. The thing is SO tries to spray on days when there is no wind, so the stuff ends up on the trees, not the neighbor's yard and no rain in the forcast, so it won't get washed off. That severely limits the timing of the spraying. And then to top it off, who wants to spray on a lovely sunny day with no wind

We stay away from non organic sprays. We'll live with funky looking peaches, if it comes to that

 

[Wolf-Kim]

So where would I find this dormant oil sprays?

Do I use it on all the fruit trees or just the peach?

We "almost" had peaches last year. We didn't stay ontop of spraying and pruning, so they either grey so close that they rotted each other, the birds got them before we did, or the bugs got them. Mostly, the bugs got them. So both hubby and I have decided to do this year right, because we will get peaches, unless the late frosts murders them. LOL

 

[FarmerDenise]

We get ours at the local hardware/home/garden store. Ace hardware, Home Depot and the like might have it.

It is more important to thin your peaches than anything else. I have learned from SO's uncles. SO didn't want me to thin the peaches too much nor did he want me to cut all those twigs out. But according to his uncles, the more you thin, the bigger and better your peaches. The pits will be about the same size, wether your peaches are small or large. So you may as well go for getting large peaches instead of peewees (as uncle Ray calls 'em) You thin the peaches to be about 3 to 5 inches apart. Imagine the peach full sized and having enough room around it. I use the back of my hand as a guide. So I usually thin them to about 3 inches. Also consider the load of fully grown peaches on each branch and twig. So I will usually thin more at the end of the branch and leave more near the trunk. If your branch is heavily loaded, it might break. We keep a close eye on the peaches and make sure to prop the branches. somehow we still manage to have one or two break every year.

I'll try to remember to check what the spray is called that we have.