My First Peach Harvest.....Kinda....Sorta

10 years ago

This is the first year after I planted my Redhaven peach tree. I have my first harvest already but as I expected it will be a constant learning experience. I just about left my tree to itself except for a little pruning to see what would happen. Rain has been ample thus far so I did no watering. I experienced a little bit of leaf yellowing and here is my harvest below

As you can probably guess from the picture, I had some obvious issues as I saw pectin oozing out during the last few weeks. I did a few internet searches and discovered my problem was likely oriental fruit moth. So when I cut one of these babies open, I was not surprised to find a worm at the pit....argh!!!! I did find a small untouched portion to at least taste the fruit and I feel good about next season barring squirrels lay low.

Lesson learned: Spray spray spray!!! There is no way around it in my environment. If you let nature take its course, bugs will have a full course with your fruit. Next lesson is how to truly identify the proper wood to prune as I understand peaches only fruit on the previous year's growth.

I hope I haven't bored you too much. :-)

This post was edited by thapranksta on Wed, Jul 10, 13 at 9:46

Comments (7)

mrsg47
10 years ago
Peaches still look nice!
Tha Pranksta
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks! I hope to produce a much better image for display this time next year.
Related Professionals
Londonderry Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Folsom Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Aurora Landscape Contractors · Wakefield Landscape Contractors · Beachwood Landscape Contractors · Bellefontaine Neighbors Landscape Contractors · Brooklyn Park Landscape Contractors · Lake Zurich Landscape Contractors · Las Vegas Landscape Contractors · Los Banos Landscape Contractors · Mount Sinai Landscape Contractors · Point Pleasant Landscape Contractors · Smyrna Landscape Contractors · Wallingford Landscape Contractors · West Haverstraw Landscape Contractors
blackrag
10 years ago
I guess it is all part of the learning process. I too will revisit my spray schedule for next year. Finally got pruning under control, CAR & fungal diseases whipped, this year got hammered by OFM and PC. It wasn't lack of spray I think, but timing. However, more sprays would have covered the timing. I am another noob that is going to put Triazicide back on the shelf and unpackage the Imidan.

What put me to sleep through this is that this season was the 1st REAL crop load. I didn't have this kind of pressure before, because I didn't have this amount of fruit hanging from the trees. Don't know how they found me so freakin fast... My "tree children" are hard work.
Tha Pranksta
Original Author
10 years ago
What kind of peach are you growing and what was your crop like in its infancy?

I was actually more concerned about squirrels but it seems as though they left me alone. Perhaps the bug invasion deterred them or they just haven't discovered the fruit yet. I just hope they don't become a future problem. Besides the peach tree, I have two Japanese plums and an Asian pear which haven't started bearing fruit yet. I expect fruit from at least one of these trees next year, maybe all 3.
myfamilysfarm
10 years ago
We don't spray anything on our peach tree (Reliance), they might not be the prettiest, but we got a lot of peaches this year. There is a new wasp out that will attack any soft fruit. I use our peaches for preserves and just cut around any bad spots/worms. We're lucky that the Reliance tree comes ripe just before the Japanese beetles attack.
Tha Pranksta
Original Author
10 years ago
Cutting around the bad spots isn't an option for me as I plan on a lot of fresh eating. Japanese beetles ate large holes in many of my leaves last year but they didn't do enough damage to mandate I spray this year.
sharppa
10 years ago
I sprayed my peaches twice early in the year with Triazicide and Immunox but we are still battling bugs and a lot of brown rot. Cutting off the bad spots and eating the rest works just fine though for fresh eating.

And my wife made a peach crisp today with somewhat unripe peaches (google unripe peach recipes) and it is fantastic. Nice and peachy and sweet with the added sugar.