Hope,

What type of soil do you have? Do you water? Mulch?

I would mulch heavily and use a product like azomite, just to make sure.

Yes I do mulch. Not familiar with azomite but will Google it thanks.

How old are your trees? Might they be too young to be bearing?

Do you know what grows well in your area? Find out and plant those things first. Zone 7 sounds cold. ;)

Cold? No, Zone 7 is hot. I have grown the same fruits here for years until I moved where I am now. Not the zone but thanks.

ltilton, The peach trees are 6 years old, set big crops the last 3 or 4 years but they all fall off when the peaches are little. Not June drop---they all drop. They turn brown & shriveled usually before falling off. The fig trees are about 4 years old & large. The grapes are 4-5 years old. There are lots of clusters but they aren't filled out like they should be.

Very discouraging all the way around. :(

Hope, I find there are ups and down with owning and caring for a small orchard. You take the good with the bad, and deal with the weather, insects and fungus. Its all frustrating and daunting. But weren't your peaches great when you had them? Sometimes your trees need a break too. They over produce or we don't thin enough and they stress. I too am in your zone or close to it, and this has been the most frustrating year yet in the orchard. It seems as if all of my trees are in-between stages of growth and production. Hang in, it will all be very different next year. I am about to start mulching, as we have had so much rain it has been impossible to spray and mulch. Mrs. G

Thanks Mrs. G. But the thing is---I've never gotten the first peach, fig or plum off my trees. They set big crops but fall off. The grapes were fine the first year but went straight downhill after that. I have Googled my head off & can't find any reference to why the grape clusters don't fill out like they should. About to give up. lol

By the way, I guess everyone knew that I mean "ALL" of my fruit instead of "Ally" of my fruit. Ally is my granddaughter's name, must have had her on my mind. :)

Shade? Fertilizer? Soil test? Sprays?

Mrs. G is asking for specifics, and she's right. Can't know what you're doing wrong if we don't know what you're doing. Also, your approximate location and the specific varieties of peach,etc

Specifics, like what spray materials, when applied, are the trees and grapes growing vigorously did pollinators tend the blossoms and so forth.

I'm in northwest Alabama. I sprayed with Captan. Yes, the grape vines and peach trees look very healthy. Haven't done a soil test, have fertilized but not too much as I was afraid I'd over do it. Grapes in full sun, peaches are in sun most of the day, until late afternoon. Sprayed in March & then twice since then.

Grapes are Concord. Peaches are both Belle of Georgia.

As to pollinators, I haven't seen a honeybee here in several years or bumblebees except those carpenter bees which I don't think pollinate. Thanks to Bayer all the bees are gone.

I appreciate everyone's help.

What kind of insecticide you do spray? Captan is fungicide. It won't prevent insects like Plum Curculio or Oriental Fruit Moth from damaging your fruit esp. peaches and plums.

Have you checked the dropped fruit if they had marks on them. That'd be a sign that they are damaged by insects. The PC and OFM can do serious damage on any orchard.

Captan is not in itself going to stick peaches in your climate. You need an affective insecticide, even if you believe that such products are the cause of colony collapse.

Also, Captan needs to be applied many times and is washed off by rain- but if that was the issue peaches would be rotting from brown rot, although brown rot in early stages causes blossom blight.

Carpenter bees seem to be fine pollinators. On my land I have many wild species of pollinators and none works harder in worse conditions than my carpenters.

I'm in a much different climate in SE NY, but here the main thing between grapes and harvest is rot. The fungicide for this is in a product called Immunox. A single application before the bunches have even opened their flowers works in my climate. Captan is not nearly as affective.

The insecticide you should probably use is made by Spectracide and called Triazide. Make sure it is the one they make that is labeled for fruit trees. Make sure you spray at petal fall and every 10-14 days until pest pressure is gone- probably about 4 sprays there. The fungicide for brown rot is called Monterey Fungus Fighter. You probably should apply that about a month before the peaches ripen. One application might do it, unless your problem is blossom blight- then you will need to spray once just before flowers open.

Captan is affective as well when used frequently in wet conditions.

Thanks for all this great info! As to wet conditions we've definitely had that. Been extremely rainy for months.

Sure if spraying a little poison is good but making no difference spray a lot of poison. That is just some bad advice. And people wonder why the bees are dying.

Hope because you grew fruit before and it all worked out and now in a new area you are having issues it makes me think it is the soil. I would have a soil test done. Without the test you are just shooting in the dark. If it was just one tree or just even one type of fruit it could be XXXXX but because you are having trouble with everything I would look at a common denominator.

bamboo rabbit I agree. I'm 60 years old & have been growing fruit or living where we had home orchards all my life & have never had the problems I'm having here.

Maybe I could talk to the County Agent about a soil test.

Thanks all!

Hope,

The tests are cheap. Hopefully it would be a ah ha moment and you can say that's why and slap yourself in the forehead:) Do you grow vegetables as well and if so do they grow ok?

I tried having a garden here the first three summers but it was a failure. Big beautiful plants but not much else. Roses do beautifully & trees & shrubs close to the house, but the fruit & garden area is away down in back & is a total flop.

Hope,

If you get the test done please post back and let us know the results.