| I have a peach tree in my yard. We have been two years at this house and never new what it was. The previous owners planted it and it's about 8-10 feet tall. My question is: I have black freckles on the top part of the fruit around the shoulders of the peaches. I don't know how to care for a peach tree so I didn't take any precautions on thinning , pest control etc. I am just starting to read up on the development of a pech treeand it |
| Carla, I apologize for this delayed reply to your gardening question and hope it is still helpful to you. Those freckles on the fruit are a fungal disease called peach scab. They are not really a big threat to the tree and on a home grown peach tree I suggest you just ignore them rather than trying to spray for them. Peaches should be fully ripe before you pick them for best quality. One way to determine full ripeness is to press gently on the fruit with a thumb and forefinger. Harvest when it starts to be slightly soft or gives beneath gentle pressure. Such fruit are very ripe but don't store well. Commercial growers pick fruit by looking not at the red or orange top side of the fruit but rather when the lower green side turns from green to chartreuse yellow. They are then quite ripe and ready to pick. Leaving them longer means a little increase in quality but a decrease in shelf life. Here are some websites from a neighboring state that are very applicable to your area also: http://msucares.com/pubs/infos... http://msucares.com/pubs/publi... Thanks for the question. Best wishes for a wonderful gardening season. Please stop in again soon! |
