How to Care for Your Peach Tree

We love having fresh peaches. It’s another step to becoming self-sufficient. But you may be wondering, “how to care for your peach tree”

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The Bearded Rooster planted our peach tree in 2017. We didn’t have fruit the first two years, which is totally normal. Last year we got enough to eat as much as we wanted plus I made a peach crisp. 

This year we harvested over 100 lbs of peaches. I made peach ice cream and peach preserves. I have another 10lbs frozen that I haven’t decided what to do with. I may just keep frozen and use it in smoothies but our tomatoes are starting to come in so we’re considering peach salsa. 

Our peach tree has been pretty easy to manage but it does need some attention. Luckily our local feed store has knowledgeable employees that have helped us a lot. Plus the Bearded Rooster picked up Rodale’s Garden book that has been invaluable. 

How to Care for Your Peach Tree

If you have flowers in the first year, pick them off. You want your tree to grow and develop strong roots and branches instead of fruit.

Spraying your tree early will help to prevent fungal disease and control pests like aphids, mites, and mealybugs. You want to spray the tree with a combo spray prior to the buds opening (February or March). 

When you start to see the buds and you can see just a little bit of color, spray with a fungicide then repeat 7-10 days later. 

Apply fungicide again in the fall after the leaves have fallen, known as petal fall. 

When you are ready to spray, spray on a calm day when no rain or storms are in the forecast. Ideally, you want to spray in the evenings to protect the bees and other pollinators. Bees return to their hive at night and are not active.

Your peach tree needs about an inch of water each week. Using a rain gauge will help you determine if you need to supplement watering. 

Caring for the Fruit

Now that you see fruit, you may need to thin it out or “knock off” the peaches. This was so hard for us because we want ALL the peaches. However, in the best interest of your tree, you need to do it. When knocking off the fruit, the remaining peaches should be 3-5 inches apart. If the branch is thin, you may want even less fruit on the limbs. 

As I said, we had a hard time with this and one of our limbs was heavy. The Bearded Rooster strapped it up and that helped but another one broke. Knocking off fruit at the end of the limb will keep it from becoming too heavy. 

If you don’t knock enough off, you may end up with smaller peaches as they are competing with each other to grow or your tree may drop fruit early.

Once the peaches are about an inch in diameter, it’s time to thin them out. 

How Do You Know When to Harvest

A ripe peach will have a sweet aroma. It will be a beautiful “peachy” dark yellow color with some red but no green. If any green, leave on the tree a few more days.

A ripe peach is soft to firm but not hard. When you squeeze them, it should give a little. If it’s too hard, they aren’t ready to pick. Just be careful when squeezing, peaches bruise easily. Also when you go to pick them, they should twist off easily. 

We were so ready to pick our peaches and picked a few too soon. If that happens, you can place it in a brown paper sack and check them the next day.

You can also place them on the counter where they aren’t touching each other. Place the peaches on their shoulder and not on their bottom. Hopefully, they will be ripe within 2 days. 

Common Problems with Peach Trees

Brown rot is the most damaging for fruit loss. It’s a fungal infection that affects the blossoms and shoots.

Bacterial spot is caused by bacteria and affects the fruit and leaves. You will see small reddish-purple spots with a white center. Many times the white center falls off, leaving a hole in the leaf. 

Peach leaf curl is a fungal infection that causes the leaves to curl and bubble. Occasionally they will turn red. Use copper fungicide

Peach scab is also caused by a fungal infection. Your peaches will have a freckle appearance. You’ll need to remove all the fruit affected

Powdery Mildew occurs on green fruit and looks like a powdery white coating. This can be prevented by thinning limbs to allow for good air circulation. 

There are a few other diseases but using a good combo spray will help care for your peach tree. But don’t forget to watch out for worms and fruit flies.

If you can keep your tree healthy, you will have lots of fresh peaches to enjoy.