Citrus and Peach trees

[jdmartin]

Time for me to get active on this thread again.

My peach tree has peaches on it! Considering it's only 3 years old or so, I'm pretty happy. Right now I have about half a dozen little peaches on there.

So now what? Will they just become peaches on their own? Will the birds try to eat these? Should I care if they do on a 3 year old tree?

Lots of questions...but no pictures. At least not right this second.

[PeakOiler]

Time for me to get active on this thread again.

My peach tree has peaches on it! Considering it's only 3 years old or so, I'm pretty happy. Right now I have about half a dozen little peaches on there.

So now what? Will they just become peaches on their own? Will the birds try to eat these? Should I care if they do on a 3 year old tree?

Lots of questions...but no pictures. At least not right this second.

One of my observations regarding birds and peaches is that the birds will damage the fruit and not necessarily eat the fruit. The damaged peaches releases a scent that bugs like, and then the birds eat the bugs on the fruit. (I suppose the birds know that bugs have more calories than peach fruit.)

I've put bird netting around pvc pipe frames over the smaller trees as shown earlier in this thread.

[jdmartin]

Hey Peakoiler, I have a question. Both my apple tree & peach tree set fruit, this being the 2nd year they're in the ground. I had about a dozen apple buds and maybe half a dozen peach buds.

The last few days all of the apple buds except 1, which is growing into a pretty good apple, were on the ground. Same with the peaches - two bigger growing ones are still on the tree, the others were lying beneath it today. Now I thought it was birds for sure, but I was doing some reading on "June Drop" . Do you think maybe this is what I've got? Neither tree is very large - I bought both of them bare root from a nursery with special stocked trees, not bigger ones from Lowes or anything, and they were shipped to me last (2009) spring. I'm wondering if the trees knew on their own they were too small to support all those fruits and dumped most of them.

Thoughts?

[PeakOiler]

Hey Peakoiler, I have a question. Both my apple tree & peach tree set fruit, this being the 2nd year they're in the ground. I had about a dozen apple buds and maybe half a dozen peach buds.

The last few days all of the apple buds except 1, which is growing into a pretty good apple, were on the ground. Same with the peaches - two bigger growing ones are still on the tree, the others were lying beneath it today. Now I thought it was birds for sure, but I was doing some reading on "June Drop" . Do you think maybe this is what I've got? Neither tree is very large - I bought both of them bare root from a nursery with special stocked trees, not bigger ones from Lowes or anything, and they were shipped to me last (2009) spring. I'm wondering if the trees knew on their own they were too small to support all those fruits and dumped most of them.

Thoughts?

Yeah, your trees are probably still too young to produce fruit. One of my plums blossomed this Spring but no fruit formed. IIRC, my peach trees dropped their fruit too when they were younger.

[jdmartin]

Cool, I feel better now :D I was gettin' a little worried...

Hey Peakoiler, I have a question. Both my apple tree & peach tree set fruit, this being the 2nd year they're in the ground. I had about a dozen apple buds and maybe half a dozen peach buds.

The last few days all of the apple buds except 1, which is growing into a pretty good apple, were on the ground. Same with the peaches - two bigger growing ones are still on the tree, the others were lying beneath it today. Now I thought it was birds for sure, but I was doing some reading on "June Drop" . Do you think maybe this is what I've got? Neither tree is very large - I bought both of them bare root from a nursery with special stocked trees, not bigger ones from Lowes or anything, and they were shipped to me last (2009) spring. I'm wondering if the trees knew on their own they were too small to support all those fruits and dumped most of them.

Thoughts?

Yeah, your trees are probably still too young to produce fruit. One of my plums blossomed this Spring but no fruit formed. IIRC, my peach trees dropped their fruit too when they were younger.

[PeakOiler]

Hundreds of small peaches are still forming on my trees. I checked the local grocery's prices today for Texas peaches: $1.97/lb. About twice the price from last year.

<--updates Garden Logbook...

Most of the peaches on my trees aren't nearly ready yet.

More rain would be nice.

[PrestonSturges]

I have one dwarf peach tree that is nearly ripe. It was mislabeled at Lowes (no surprise there), so I'm unsure what it is.

I read that peaches like fertilizer, like citrus.

[jdmartin]

Deer keep munching on my peach tree. You guys got any good ideas? I'm thinking of hooking up some kind of motion sprinkler to chase 'em off. I've tried pissing near the trees, doesn't seem to be working. Any other thoughts?

[PrestonSturges]

Deer keep munching on my peach tree. You guys got any good ideas? I'm thinking of hooking up some kind of motion sprinkler to chase 'em off. I've tried pissing near the trees, doesn't seem to be working. Any other thoughts?

Do you live in the country or do you deal with a home owners association? Deer can be kept at bay by a heavy nylon mesh deer fence that is pretty inconspicuous, but it needs posts. In the country you might get by with a wire "cattle panel" which is I think 16 ft wide, which would make a 5' circle.

[PeakOiler]

Deer keep munching on my peach tree. You guys got any good ideas? I'm thinking of hooking up some kind of motion sprinkler to chase 'em off. I've tried pissing near the trees, doesn't seem to be working. Any other thoughts?

Depending on the laws where you live, shoot it. Harvesting one deer yields far more calories than the peach tree could produce. Even if it isn't hunting season, doesn't one have the right to protect one's property from pests?

Edit: This was my 2000th post. Fission. I'd rather the rating be fusion, since I'm using more solar energy these days, and the Sun is still the only working fusion reactor in the solar system...

[PeakOiler]

Oh my goodness. It's peach harvest season.
These were weighed yesterday:



Shown below are some of the peaches yet to be eaten, processed, or sold.



A coworker of mine wants to buy some (offered $2/lb) since the peaches have not been sprayed with any pesticides or any other thing for that matter. They were only watered with collected rainwater or rainfall.

There are still hundreds of green and ripening peaches. My plans for the near future are apparent. Time to break out the canning jars and make some jam. More updates later...

[jdmartin]

Holy shit that's a lot of peaches! Man, I hope to have that many in a few years. How old are your trees PO?

[PeakOiler]

Here's a snapshot of my Excel Garden Logbook peach page as of this date:



The logbook is work in progress...

[PeakOiler]

Holy sh*t that's a lot of peaches! Man, I hope to have that many in a few years. How old are your trees PO?

The oldest peach tree is about 14 years old. It's producing the best and biggest fruit than the others. All 13 peach trees were planted here between 1995 to 2005.

Edited quote. I plan on harvesting another few dozen peaches this afternoon. I watered all the peach trees this morning with rainwater. Sure could use more rain...

Good luck with your peaches, jdmartin!

They sure have been delicious!

[PeakOiler]

Deleted. Double post.

[PeakOiler]

Oh my goodness. Or perhaps OMG!

I have harvested over 200 peaches in the last 10 days. There are still hundreds of ripening peaches on the way...

I've been taking some to work and distributing them to coworkers. I've even been given a few dollars contribution...

I am really considering trying to sell some by the roadside one or two Saturday afternoons soon...

[PrestonSturges]

Deer keep munching on my peach tree. You guys got any good ideas? I'm thinking of hooking up some kind of motion sprinkler to chase 'em off. I've tried pissing near the trees, doesn't seem to be working. Any other thoughts?

Depending on the laws where you live, shoot it. Harvesting one deer yields far more calories than the peach tree could produce. Even if it isn't hunting season, doesn't one have the right to protect one's property from pests?

Edit: This was my 2000th post. Fission. I'd rather the rating be fusion, since I'm using more solar energy these days, and the Sun is still the only working fusion reactor in the solar system...

It might require that you show income from the trees so you can claim an economic loss, but if you get an agricultural exemption you can legally do some preseason shooting. You might even end up putting out a salt lick.

[PeakOiler]

I am now overwhelmed with peaches. I've never tried making a peach wine or peach mead. Perhaps this year will be my first attempt.

I've got to do something with all these peaches instead of just giving them away. I'd hate to see them just go to compost...

Shown below is peach tree #9 (of 13). Twelve other trees also have small ripening fruit on them. Hundreds altogether...



Suggestions?

Peach tree #13 has produced over 250 peaches (>22.8 kg, 50 lb) this season so far.

[PeakOiler]

I'm going to make peach jam today. Today is another mostly sunny day and nine canning jars are getting boiled in a big pot of water using the SunOven. Once the water is boiling, then I'll prepare the peach jam on the electric range. The jam recipe calls for 1/4 cup lemon juice and I'll use some hg lemon juice saved from last year.

My plans for the near future are to get a lot more canning jars and lids as well as more freezer containers. The solar-powered freezer has been a good investment for food storage.

[PeakOiler]

Another coworker has asked me to bring her some more peaches. She loved the 2-peach sample I gave her. She told me she will make a peach cobbler and bring it to work to share.


Update: YTD peaches harvested: 282 weighing 24.2 kg (53.3 lb) and @ $1.97/lb corresponds to about $105 versus the local grocery.

Yikes! There are still 10 trees with not-quite-ready peaches on them!