o' Henry dwarf peach tree

[tommyblaze]

This is my o ' henry peach tree. I purchased it last year. I didn't get any peaches last year. I think I didn't gave it enough fertilizer. I was using fish emulsion. It had little peaches about the size of a pea but they always fell off.I tried pruning it not sure if I did it right. I also plan on planting It in the ground in the front yard. I desperately would like peaches this year any info would help. I am definitely a novice gardner!!!

[tommyblaze]

[tomc]

A layer of bark mulch six inches away from the trunk and out to the drip edge of your tree every spring. No nitrogenous fertilizers like fish emulsion. Liquid fertilizers are too hot for your tree, they make spindly branches prone to breaking.

When your tree first makes blossoms. Pick off eight out of every ten baby fruits. if those survive to ripe, the next year you can only pick off seven out of ten baby fruits.

Leaving too many fruits on a young tree can break off branches, or cause fruit drop (meaning all fruit falls off). Go slow and grow big slowly.

[JONA]

Hi Tommy....
Like tomc I agree that it is unwise to give too much nitrogen to any fruiting tree when it is at the blossom stage.
The nutrient can encourage a burst of growth in the tree just as you want all its Input to be on the growing fruitlets.
It can even encourage fruit drop.
One other thing that came to mind. Have you any other peaches in the area? If not then your tree may need a little help at pollination time. The fact that you are suffering so much drop could be partially explained by poor pollination.
A soft paint brush around the flowers at bloom stage is always a belt and braces way to ensure that that is not the problem.

[tommyblaze]

Thank you!

[tommyblaze]

I planted the tree out of the pot and have bark mulch around the drip line. Its now budding/flowering not sure what to pick off. Also I don't know how to pollinate it with a q tip. iam havin a hard time posting a picture but I will keep trying

[tommyblaze]

[tommyblaze]

Another picture

[JONA]

The easiest way to pollinate is with a small soft brush. Just gently push the brush tip into each flower.....enough pollen grains will stick and be moved around the tree to do the job.

[tommyblaze]

So every blossom is a peach? There is a ton of them. I should pluck them off like tom c suggested. Should I try to keep the ones closer to the main branch or farther away

[tommyblaze]

Do I pick the blossoms off or wait till they are baby fruit?

[JONA]

I would wait until your sure the fruit has set.
You can always pick them off later if you have too many.....you can't replace them if the set is poor and you've gone and thinned too early.

[tommyblaze]

Makes complete sense! Sometimes iam not the sharpest tool in the shed.

[tommyblaze]

Update: I have tons of baby peaches on tree I was about to thin them out when I noticed I have some type of disease going on. Does anybody know what it is and how to treat it? Also I noticed I have some fruits that look like double peaches should they be trimmed first?

[HGrep]

Hi,
So I learned the hard way this is peach leaf curl. it is a fungus & the tree is supposed to be sprayed in the dormant stage before the Spring for prevention. I was told to remove the affected leaves even from the ground. Though I read here https://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7426.html that it doesn't really help. This link also gives all the info we need to manage & prevent for next year.
Seems it is too late in the season for us to do anything about this except wait & hope the fruits aren't too affected. Hope this helps!

[tommyblaze]

Thanks that what I found out too