Hi Charlieboring!,
In a perfect world, I, and many of us, would not use insecticides either if we did not find it absolutely necessary, but for the majority of us fruit growers, spraying is vital in reaping good and great peaches and other fruit in the world we live in today. I live in Georgia and peaches do grow great here but they need continuous help. However, I do not spray my fig bushes. Everyone of us has our own tried and true methods-as I am sharing mine-which works for me- with you. (And anyone else who wants to try it) Again, this successfully works for me: I alternate during the whole year at 3 month intervals. I use neem oil before bloom time and after harvest; and I use Bonide's All season dormant oil during the dormant season. I have read in dfferent formats where people say that neem oil does nothing for them, but I am sharing with you that it truly works for me. It keeps the insects off my trees but I do alternate occasionally with homemade soap, vinegar and oil solutions as well so that the little pests don't become resistant to the neem oil. Fortunately, I have not had any major problems with my trees yet except occasional leaf curl. I have had them for nearly 5 years now and they do bare beautiful peaches more often than not. I have pics of the peaches I harvested last season. (Aug. 2014 that I will upload when I get home from work.) I also use copper spray as needed for peach leaf curl. Charieboring, I can get obsessed with my trees, raised beds and everything that I have in my 1/3 acre garden--but it is a work of love. I am a firm believer that if you really want something you have to work hard at keeping and maintaining it and this way you will more-than-not get favorable rewards. Good luck and I hope that you can keep the trees you have and add some more to the collection as well. Keep us informed!

Also I forgot to mention Charlieboring, that I use netting on all my trees because they are either dwarf or semi-dwarf and I can reach the tops of all my trees with ease. I know it can be tedious to wrap the trees-but the rewards are worth it. ON certain trees-like my flavor supreme pluot and my 4-n-1 pluot tree, I double wrap them. I am not going to share with the birds and bugs if I don't have to!! LOL

You can try Spinosad too, it's stronger than neem, killls better, and organic.

ahgrower, my guess is the moths have not found your trees yet -- it can take awhile based on how isolated the trees are. Do you see any moth damage at all on them (big worms in mature fruit)? Since the moths don't even wake up until after bloom it sounds like you are not spraying anything on them -- neem wears off fairly rapidly. Thats why I expect they have not even showed up yet. For my first 3-4 years I thought I was doing really well, then a few moths showed up one year, then a bunch the next year etc.

My program to control peach bugs is I use Surround clay from when the shucks split (cracks appear in the flower leftovers on the fruitlets) through peaches being nickel-sized. I use spinosad from shuck split through the rest of the season, up to six sprays. I use mating disruption all summer long. It works really well but its hard to find a source for. For diseases you need to use sulphur at nickel/dime size to avoid peach scab problems, and dormant copper for spot and canker. I also now use propiconazole for brown rot in midsummer.

Scott

Thanks Drew 51, and Scottssmith, this is why I love this website. I always read this forum everyday when I get the chance. Drew51, I intend to purchase the Spinosad as soon as I get my income tax check LOL! Although I have been a veggie gardener for a very long time, I have only been a fruit tree grower for 5 years and I know I will use the wisdom you guys are giving me. Scottsmith, we have chatted before and you always give good advice and much knowledgeable experience. Thanks so much because I have not seen the moths come yet and I want to be fully prepared. Where can I purchase the Surround Clay from-on line? Can you give me the website? Also, do you or have you ever used the Monterey insecticide? Is that stuff good too? I think I can get that at the Home Depot right? In any case, I am still trying to upload these pics of the peaches I harvested this past August off of my Dwarf Elberta tree Charlieboring. Please bare with me. I have a co-worker helping me to upload these right now...

Hi Charlieboring,
Here are the pics as promised. I had my daughter make peach bread pudding for me and the family and it was delicious!!! Never mind the extra 5 lbs! LOL

{{gwi:2118095}}

Here is another one

{{gwi:2118096}}

Here's the last one

{{gwi:2118097}}

Thanks Scott for the detailed spraying info. I too will probably do exactly the same thing. Except add Spinosad as if I can kill them I would rather. I know though organic Spinosad may hurt bees, so you have to be aware of what you're doing. I like it too because it can be used on all fruits I grow. I have not used it enough to determine how effective, but it is said to kill any caterpillar, and many others are listed too with low impact on beneficials. Besides the Monterey product Bonide makes it as Capt Jacks dead bug brew. The clay is awesome and so safe. I want to start using it too. I would rather avoid the big guns unless needed, and yes they are needed for brown rot.

Thanks Scott for the detailed spraying info. I too will probably do exactly the same thing. Except add Spinosad as if I can kill them I would rather. I know though organic Spinosad may hurt bees, so you have to be aware of what you're doing. I like it too because it can be used on all fruits I grow. I have not used it enough to determine how effective, but it is said to kill any caterpillar, and many others are listed too with low impact on beneficials. Besides the Monterey product Bonide makes it as Capt Jacks dead bug brew. The clay is awesome and so safe. I want to start using it too. I would rather avoid the big guns unless needed, and yes they are needed for brown rot.

Nice looking peaches!

Drew, I am still using spinosad. Now that my mating disruption is going well I may be able to ease back on it at some point, but not quite yet. This last season I found maybe six worms from many hundreds of peaches, and only a couple codling moths in my apples.

It is a minor tragedy that mating disruption is so hard to get. It is very low-toxicity, very easy to use, and very effective. And very hard to get your hands on thanks to all of our state governments working hard to "protect" us.

Scott

Great looking peaches. I had about 15 that look like that from my elberta, but most were damaged by insects and those that were not damaged were eaten by squirrels.

Charlie, if your trees are stand-alone (nothing to jump on them from) and all low branches can be pruned off, the best squirrel protection is a baffle on the trunk about 4' high - all you do is put on the baffle and you are done. I have too many low branches so baffles don't work and I need to trap them. Trapping is a lot of work, and I really wish I could use baffles.

Scott

Scott - I can't use a baffle because the fence is only 7 feet from the tree. These squirrels are jumpers.