My peaches have shriveled on the tree

[OdeliahRaeD]

Hi! My name's Odeliah. My husband and I just bought a house last year that has an array of fruit trees. We've been watering and pruning them, and these two peach trees seemed to be coming along nicely, but then suddenly the little peaches shriveled up and the tips of the leaves of the tree turned brown. After googling "peaches shrivel on tree" we got a variety of answers including that we OVERwatered and some saying we UNDERwatered! So we're very confused and not really sure what we did wrong and how to remedy it. If anyone has any clue what's going on from these pictures, could you help us out? Most of the peaches have a gelatinous inside when we open them up, but a couple have a little pit. Don't understand why they don't have pits, either. Here are some photos.

This is one with a pit...



Here are the brown leaves and a shriveled peach...







Gelatinous insides...



And Here's the tree





Any help appreciated!

[tomc]

Either you live in OZ or those poor peaches are left over from last year.

If your in Australia-New Zealand how was your summer? Really really hot and dry? Then watering drouth could be part of your problem.

If you live anywhere USain I'd want you to talk to your local agricultural extension.

[OdeliahRaeD]

I live in Jacumba, ca, which is eastern San Diego. It's been a pretty warm winter. The tree seemed Okay, it had beautiful white flowers and then started sprouting cute little peaches and we thought all was well, until this happened.

[Marlingardener]

Judging from my very small experience with peach trees, it looks like peach tree leaf curl, which is caused by a fungus. Here is a link to UC Davis which may have information that is helpful to you.
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7426.html

If it is leaf curl, it can be controlled and prevented by fungicides.

[OdeliahRaeD]

Thanks for all your replies! I'm gonna do my best to deal with the leaf curl-your insight has been very helpful!

[NatureHillsNursery]

Sorry to hear about your experience Odeliah. As a fruit tree gardener myself, I can understand your frustration. In looking at your photos, I would second what another poster said and suggest “leaf curl” as your problem. I had a similar problem with some of my peaches, and a good fungicide seemed to do the trick. I’ve also found that the variety of peach is important.