Peach tree

[western mainer]

I have two peach trees that are loaded this year do I pick off any of the green one now or leave it alone?
Thanks Brian

[barnbc76]

I don't know anything about peach trees but typically you will get larger apples and stress the tree less if you thin them. It very important on young apple trees. Not doing so can cause trees to become biennial or stunt growth of the tree or cause your branches to break and give you many smaller fruit. I don't see why it would be any different but perhaps someone else with experience will chime in.

[spud]

I would thin them out right away if the tree is 5 years old or younger.

Spud

[maple flats]

Thin them. We have had peaches since the late 70's and have had several trees. We were told by a fruit expert in 1980-81 that we were far too cold and could not grow them. He said they would die. He has proven right, but not how we expected when he told us they would die.
Peaches set far more fruit than they can support. The first one we had was so loaded that some of the branches broke off from the weight even though I had braced them with forked sticks from the ground. What peaches that tree had ripened to be about the size of golf balls, but they were tasty for sure. The next year we thinned the crop by removing about 2/3 of the fruit and the peaches were medium large. From then on we removed about 3/4 of the fruit and it was better. As for the tree dieing, he was right. Every tree we had produced so heavily that eventually the tree split at a main crotch and laid on the ground even with several supports to help the tree carry what peaches we left on.
Since then we have found that 10 years is about all we can get from a tree before it self destructs, so we plant 1 or 2 new one every year because we like to keep about 8-12 producing peach trees at any time.
Those thinning percentages are average for most good fruit years. Locally we had little or no fruit last year because of a hard frost as the blossoms were just opening, but most years we end up with about 1/4-3/4 bushel off each tree depending on it's age, a first year fruiting may only yield 5-8 peaches (second year in ground) which is thinned to about 3-4. Then the next season it's often 1/4 bushel.
Good luck. If left unthined the tree will naturally self thin but no where near enough and what fruit you get will be tiny. For thinning, on a first year fruiting tree thin to 1/limb. Then in later years thin to one every 6-8" and be sure to provide support for the weight as the limbs start to sag. We thin by hand but there are also chemical thinners. To try those you need someone else because I've never done it.

[Bruce L]

Dave,what varieties of peaches do you grow? Have also tried peaches here with very limited success of wintering over

[maple flats]

Reliance, 4th of july, Alberta Giant and Saturn Peach. The Saturn is very tasty but uniquely shaped, it looks like the planet of the same name. The reliance has been our longest success story. That's the one that self destructs most often from getting too heavy to support the peaches even with good bracing. They all do it, but Reliance seems to be the worst. But on the flavor scale it's right near the top.
My wife also saves several pits each year and starts them in the greenhouse, a few turn out great and some are OK, some not worth the space and they get cut into firewood. I guess the ones from pits are anybodies guess since they are not true to what they came from. About 20 years ago we got our best ever doing that. My wife gave a neighbor one she had started. The pit came from a peach that was just OK, not great, but that pit grew into a tree which produced some really large, juicy and flavorful peaches. It lasted about 9 or 10 years and then did the self destruct thing too. At our house we only have a small back yard, but in it we have 15 fruit trees, 4 are peaches. In the front yard we have 2 more fruit trees, both are Asian Pears. There we also have strawberries (we picked 23 pints tonight), Leaf lettuce, broccoli, and a few others. That used to all be lawn, but now the lawn is only a small portion that takes 5 minutes to mow, the rest is all edible.

[Bruce L]

Had Reliance one time,tried Fingerlakes Super Hardy also,now trying Intrepid. Planted a raspberry patch last year of 50 canes,Heritage ever bearing,got quite a few raspberries last fall when it finally started to rain,this year the patch has really thickened up,should be masses of berries. Have about 70 apple trees that my Grandfather planted,plus Golden Delicious and Royal Gala that I planted,plus about 6 grape varieties,2 plum trees,a plumcot tree,and 10 pear trees,not all bearing yet.

[DiWe]

I would also like to grow peach trees, but not sure if I'll be able to grow them well.
Any tips?

[MapleCamp]

Years ago I had a reliance in my front yard. It had the biggest and sweetest peaches Ive ever had. It self destructed about 10 years ago. Two yeas ago in the same spot a peach tree popped up. It has small but very sweet fruit. Old peach pit maybe? I now have 4 reliance dwarf I'm trying to keep very small. They are all 2 years old and have fruit. I may save some pits to grow and graft.

[buckeye gold]

Try June bud grafting some of those sprouts

[spud]

I'm enjoying this Thread. So is it safe to say that even if you thin your peach trees they still will self destruct in about 10 years? I was looking to plant some Reliance and Intrepid trees next season. Sounds like I should just start with a few and then add on every year or two. Who do you buy your trees from?

Spud

[western mainer]

Thanks for the info here.Last year we didn't have anything, do to a late frost also.
Brian

[buckeye gold]

I have a of hale haven and a sunhaven late peach and neither of them have self destructed. The hale haven I have to support, but the sunhaven is big and robust and seems to support it's self. I put supports under the limbs very early and I think that keeps them from having stress damage. If you wait until they are already bowing towards the ground damage is already being done to the limbs. Of the two only the hale haven needs thinned as it gets absolutely covered in fruit. Both are self pollinators.

[MapleCamp]

I got my reliance trees from Stark Brothers, I used to buy from Millers but I think Stark bought them.

[maple flats]

We buy most from Stark. I brace the trees as soon as they show any sing of sagging from the increasing weight. We also in a typical year remove about 65-75% of the fruit set. I still lose a tree at about 10-11 years. We plant 2-4 new trees (in peaches) every year. Since my earlier post I've counted how many peach trees we have, at present 11. Of those 5 are from some unknown pits we've planted as an experiment (we grew them but only know one parent). They were planted in the center of a half acre high fence garden (deer fence 7' high) but the soil there is fantastic and they grew too fast and created too much shade, so my wife had me pull them with the excavator, buy reaching over the fence and using a chain, they were then replanted outside the fence and 5 of 7 planted survived and are loaded with peaches this year. They will be thinned this week.

[spud]

So as a Father's Day gift to myself I ordered three Reliance Peach trees yesterday from Stark's. I happen to be on their site yesterday and noticed they were selling these trees for just $9.99 each. How can you say no to that? I wanted to order some Bubblegum Plum trees also but they were out of them.

Spud

[maple flats]

Spud, It's getting a little late to plant them, be sure to give them some tender loving care until they show signs of taking hold. You will be best off if you prune away all but a little of the new growth. Let the roots get started then it will put out new leaves. If you leave too many on when planted they will actually suck some energy from the roots and weaken it. The best part is that if they don't make it, Stark guarantees them and you can get free replacements. Hopefully that won't be necessary. Water them well and keep them watered but do not over water them.

[BAP]

Good luck with your trees Spud. Should be a good year for planting a little late with all the rain we have been getting. Should be enough moisture that they will take right off.

[spud]

Thanks Guy's. I hope they do well. Out of 600 trees I have bought from Starks in the last five years only two have now died. I have had great luck with this company.

Spud

[Bruce L]

Hey Spud,what about cherries,do you grow them,looking online thinking of trying the black gold variety

[spud]

Hey Spud,what about cherries,do you grow them,looking online thinking of trying the black gold variety

I have 10 cherry trees. They are Evan's Bali, North Star, Montmorency and Kristin. I made cherry jam last summer and it was outstanding. I bought a cherry pitter for this year.

Spud

[Z/MAN]

I planted 7 fruit trees from Starks 3 years ago. 6 doing fine but one of the cherries didn't bloom this year. Didn't seem like it died so I left it alone and now it is pushing out leaves and branches from the bottom part of the tree. Top still does not seem dead but all the new growth is on the first 14 inches or so of the trunk. Any ideas on why and what to do with it?

[spud]

One of my cherry trees that I planted last year looked a bit sick all last summer. I decided that if it looked sick again this spring I was going to pull it up. It started out slow this spring but now it is doing great and has several new branches some being 16-20 inches long. I would wait and see what these new branches do on your tree. These trees have a mind of their own.

Spud