Peaches Falling Off Tree - Size of Olives

[shotgun]

peaches a now starting to fall off .thay are about the size large olives


HELP PLEASE

[applestar]

I'm pretty sure this is normal -- it's called "June Drop" The tree can't possibly nurture all those fruits, so it "aborts" the ones that are not well established. It's probably a good idea to inspect the dropped fruits for signs of insect damage, etc. though. That would tell you if you need to do anything more. You're supposed to rake them up and get rid of them because if they're left under the tree, they invite pests and diseases.

Assuming all is well, it's a good thing because the fruits should be thinned in any case -- when June drop is over, look over the branches prune off any that would touch another fruit as they grow. I think the general rule is 3 or 4 to a cluster.

Hope someone who's been doing this for years can provide a more detailed advice.

[Gary350]

I use to work in a orchard. The guys that took care of the trees use to say that a typically tree or plant will usually have a root system equal to the size of the plant. If the root system is too small for the plant it will drop some of its fruit and leaves until the root system is capable of suporting the fruit and leaves that are left on the plant. I was told they fertilize a tree for many years before it has a root system large enough to produce fruit. When the trees reaches a certain size or age they cut off all the vertical limbs and trim the horizonal limbs so they are shorter. The horizonal limbs produce the best fruit but I don't know why. The next year the tree will produce large ripe fruit because the tree is much smaller than the root system. That is what I was told 40 years ago. I have been reading all the information I can find trying to make my apple tree produce good fruit and everything I read says, the biggest mistake that most home gardeners make is not cutting enough off of their fruit tree. I am no expert it took me 18 years to finally figure out how to get my apple tree to make large ripe apples. You need plenty of sun light, fertilizer, water, trim off all the vertical limbs, trim the horzinal limbs short. Potash makes the roots grow, phosphate makes the plant strong, nitrogen and water makes the fruit large, full sun makes the fruit get ripe.