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servatusprime
04-10-2014, 09:23 AM
Good morning,

I think I killed my peach tree..........Not sure yet. Would like to get someone's confirmation. This is my first peach tree, so guess what, I'm not an expert.

This past winter it appears that this tree got white scale pretty bad. I wasn't paying attention to it because I didn't recognize it at the time as a major problem. The tree leafed out and then bloom profusely so I though everything was hunkey-dorie. Well..........slowly all the leaves started yellowing, shriveling, and falling off. I also posted a thread not too long ago about how none of the flowers set fruit.

In the aftermath, I have pruned back the tree. Some of the branches are dead, some still alive. The tree keeps trying to send up new growth below the bud union. I'm guessing this isn't a good sign. Thoughts?

Additionally, is this an ongoing normal thing for SW Florida? When I bought this tree I was lead to believe that maintenance and care would be simple. It was to replace an orange tree that I just could not keep the leafminers away. I'm trying to grow everything down here organically and I am finding out that its not easy!

Thanks!:lurk:

Abnshrek
04-10-2014, 11:36 AM
https://scontent-b-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1.0-9/1609780_735449886494585_5131708657814009274_n.jpg

Kat2
04-10-2014, 11:46 AM
I honestly can't suggest anything but was wondering if FL peach trees are normally grafted. The ones I grew in MD were not but that was 30 years ago so perhaps things have changed. (Only grafted one I had was a cocktail tree; 17 year cicadas ate all the grafts even though I was assured that they did no damage. Ha! Since then you're told to net young trees in tulle. What was left was a wonderful peach that bore 5" beauties one season and then the water company killed it by installing temporary lines that leaked right beside it all winter long. I called and called but they ignored me. Sure, they paid me $800 for my dead tree but I'd have rather had the peaches.)

So if it's grafted, can you find out what stock? Perhaps the suckers will yield a decent fruit.

servatusprime
04-10-2014, 11:53 AM
I honestly can't suggest anything but was wondering if FL peach trees are normally grafted. The ones I grew in MD were not but that was 30 years ago so perhaps things have changed. (Only grafted one I had was a cocktail tree; 17 year cicadas ate all the grafts even though I was assured that they did no damage. Ha! Since then you're told to net young trees in tulle. What was left was a wonderful peach that bore 5" beauties one season and then the water company killed it by installing temporary lines that leaked right beside it all winter long. I called and called but they ignored me. Sure, they paid me $800 for my dead tree but I'd have rather had the peaches.)

So if it's grafted, can you find out what stock? Perhaps the suckers will yield a decent fruit.

A five second Google search suggest that Nemaguard or Guardian rootsock is used in Florida.

merce3
04-10-2014, 06:55 PM
Yeah, all fl peaches are grafted

bananimal
04-10-2014, 07:36 PM
Beware! There are peach trees out there that are grafted on the wrong rootstock. For south FL it must be Flordaguard rootstock and for north FL Nemaguard. This was confirmed when I took a tour of a comml peach tree farm in Ft Pierce.

Buy from a reputable nursery where the owner knows what he's talking about.

If you plant a tree and it croaks within 6 or 7 years it has the wrong rootstk for your area.

Kat2
04-10-2014, 07:39 PM
I searched but couldn't find out whether fruits from root stocks are worth eating. (I have some friends who've killed their second pair of peach trees because of sporadic watering and some kind of "borer" but have suckers coming up.)

servatusprime
04-11-2014, 04:18 AM
I don't think the root stock is the problem since its trying to send up shoots below the bud union. I think that the white scale is responsible to killing everything above. I hope it comes back, but I am having my doubts.

If it ends up dying, I think I might ask for suggestions for an alternative. This spot in the garden is supposed to be for my wife's one fruit tree. Everything else is pretty much picked out by me. I just feel bad that her one little corner in the yard keeps having issues.

kubali
04-11-2014, 08:29 AM
I searched but couldn't find out whether fruits from root stocks are worth eating. (I have some friends who've killed their second pair of peach trees because of sporadic watering and some kind of "borer" but have suckers coming up.)

that would be the lesser peach tree borer and they will kill a tree quick if not treated.

Max363
04-11-2014, 11:26 AM
When I was a kid growing up in Pittsburgh, my Dad brought home two peach trees 5-6' that were growing in a weed strip next to the parking lot at the bakery where he worked.
He determined that they grew from discarded pits from workers lunches.He planted them in our back yard and they grew and produced large amazing delicious fruit almost every year for about a dozen years. That was 45-50 yrs ago, and in trying to grow peach trees many times again I have succeeded only once in having a decent harvest. Many, many years of beautiful blooms, but also many more years of blight, borers and slowly dying trees of six or seven varieties. Since I am slightly more north of ideal peach country and you seem to be hundreds of miles south of peach country, I'm not surprised. It's probably really sad that i can grow a much better banana tree than a peach tree after 50 years of gardening but then my cherry crop is always outstanding! Good luck in your future endeavors!

servatusprime
04-11-2014, 12:47 PM
Well Max, maybe you honed in on the issue. I will admit I live at the edge of being able to grow peaches. You could say that I hope for just enough chill hours to get peaches but not enough to impact my bananas. However my tree was doing great until the white scale showed up. So maybe I just should have been more proactive. I'm originally from up north too and it seems like you could just throw some seeds on the ground and it grew with hardly a worry.

We shall see if it pulls through. If not, I'll have to look into replacing or or going with an entirely different fruiting tree that will do better in my area.

Kat2
04-12-2014, 08:34 AM
that would be the lesser peach tree borer and they will kill a tree quick if not treated.
Yes! I'd looked it up, told her and promptly forgot.