Advice on keeping my Peach Tree alive through the summer?

psimitry · Joined: 22 Sep 2009 Posts: 75 Location: maricopa

So earlier in the year (around late april/early may I think it was) I planted an Erli Grande peach tree. It was a 5G container tree, and it was about a month later that I read the FAQ page and found out that I planted it at the WAAY wrong time of year.

However, the tree itself doesn't appear to be doing all that badly, it has a bunch of new growth, but it also has a lot of brown spots on the leaves, which I'm taking to be sunburn.

At the moment, it has two 4GPH drippers feeding it which get run twice a day (morning and night) every other day for twenty minutes. This equals out to a little over five gallons of water on watering days, a little over 20G per week. Additionally, every week when I water my citrus trees, I deep water it as well, flooding the basin first and then trickling water in for an additional 30 mins.

Is this enough water it's receiving? Should I paint the trunk/bark like I do on the orange trees?

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2010 6:37 pm Post subject:

Sounds like you are doing everything right to me. You'll get some sunburn this time of year no matter how healthy your tree. If your tree has really thin foliage and the bark is getting badly sunburned than painting the sunburned branches won't hurt. However, once your tree gets bigger it won't be necessary unless you do some major pruning.

psimitry · Joined: 22 Sep 2009 Posts: 75 Location: maricopa

A couple years later and... hey! Peaches!

I don't actually expect them to be all that tasty at all. It's the first year it's produced, and I didn't fertilize it at all (I'll probably do that next spring).

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 3:27 pm Post subject:

Great! Probably they will taste good. It's not uncommon to get peaches one year after planting. Peach trees tend to overproduce so you might not have a problem this year but in the future you will need to thin your peaches so that they don't break all the branches on the tree. I just thinned a couple hundred off of mine this week. Wow, time sure does fly doesn't it. This post started 2 years ago!

psimitry · Joined: 22 Sep 2009 Posts: 75 Location: maricopa

Good to know I won't have to thin them out this year. Is there any particular...I dunno.. gauge or something like that to know when one has thinned enough of them out? Or is it just kind of a feel thing?

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 6:14 pm Post subject:

They say you should space them every six inches as a guideline. However, its not a hard rule. If a branch only has two peaches on it and they are right next to each other, that is of course still fine.

I generally thin more than once. I do a first thinning when they are small and green and then keep an eye on the tree to see if more thinning is necessary. Some years I have tied the branches with ropes to other branches to give extra support. It is really a subjective thing, and I generally seem to leave too many on... ha ha.

psimitry · Joined: 22 Sep 2009 Posts: 75 Location: maricopa

It definitely is a concern - and I've heard that they will tend to be ripe all about the same time and unlike oranges, you can't leave them on the tree for a month or longer. Thus, you have a LOT of peaches to consume/jar/freeze. True?

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 4:17 pm Post subject:

Yep, you have about 2-3 weeks to pick all of them. In the beginning they will be a little more tart and crunchy and towards the end sweet and soft.

psimitry · Joined: 22 Sep 2009 Posts: 75 Location: maricopa

Couple quick questions:

1. Should I be fertilizing this tree to improve the eventual fruit that comes from it?

2. I noticed a few birds landing on the branches. Should I be tying blank CD's to the branches sooner than later?

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 9:45 pm Post subject:

I have been giving my tree fish emulsion 5-1-1 to help size up the fruit. So, yes, you can fertilize, just be conservative. I don't start hanging the CD's until the fruit are getting ripe. The birds won't bother them when they're green. They are to busy trying to eat my loquats right now.. ha ha.