PF 24 C, about 7-8 years old. After heavy rain on Tues and some more on Wed, so much water on the leaves, bags, etc. I came home today and saw this on the ground. Crushed.
Most of them are clean, too.
Hubby is researching pickled peach recipes. Any suggestions??
Kinda making lemonade out of lemons situation.
so sorry.
Chutney
Any recipe, please?
Wow, that is really too bad. Looked like great peaches too. I had some of my most productive branches broken off this winter when snow off my greenhouse’s sloped roof came down and ripped them off the tree.
Anthony
What upset me most is that these were clean peaches. I have had bugs ruining so many of my peaches. These were the surviving clean ones.
I feel for you! I am learning that peaches are not easy to grow, so every peach is valuable. I admire you got that far with that many peaches!!! Hopefully your peaches on the other branches will produce. . Looks like the bagging was working for you!
How do you like the PF24C peach?
Thanks, Spud. I thought I knew enough not to leave many peaches on a tree, it looks like I don’t know enough after all.
Yes, I do like PF 24 C. The fruit is large and the taste is good but my experience tasting home-grown peaches is limited to a few I grow and those from Pick Your own orchard. On freezing cold years, its flowerbuds are cold hardier than most.
NO!!! Why do bad things happen to good people? I just logged on and was soooo sorry to see this. It’s a big deal- a really big deal and I’m so sorry this happened to you. Seeing all the peaches that had been wrapped with such care in hopes of protecting them from the usual enemies, only to see them laying on the ground in waste. I can’t imagine what you felt like when you drove/walked up and saw that. I was even more sad when I saw all the green peaches in that tub, because every one of them looked so perfect. Obviously they would have eventually become perfect, beautiful, delicious peaches! This just stinks! I hope you do find a way to use them (pickled) but the sad truth is we all know nothing you can do with those green peaches will compare to what they would have become.
Oh well…at least it looks like you still have quite a few on the tree. Last year frost got you, so at least you’ll have some fruit this year. Try to look at bright side. Sorry this happened to one of the nicest people on GF!
Tippy this is horrible. You are not having a great fruit year except for the cherries. You still have plenty of peaches on your tree. Mine would have been gone by now. Remember having one is better than none!
I feel your pain, (Literally) This year has been one of those years for me. If it isn’t the limbs breaking or the critters eating everything… My bags haven’t been of much help… I find several on the ground everyday as the critters pull the whole thing down.
Manuang, so sorry about your peaches! I just don’t know what to say.
Thank you everyone for your kind words. When I pulled in the driveway yesterday after work, I could see the tree with the broken limb from the driveway. I thought I hallucinated!!! That couldn’t be real.
My husband and I tried to put it back but it did not work. It broke clean off during our attempt.
A positive thing (to me) during this mess was I told my husband I was too upset to cook dinner!!! He was nice about it
This year seems to be more challenging since early spring when a cold snap wiped out apricots and some plums… Then came very rainy spring when pollinators could not work resulting in poor pollination. Once the weather warmed up, bugs worked hard to ruin any fruit they could find. Then, a broken peach branch.
I have already seen half eaten A pears on the ground and believe it’s squirrels’ work. No wonder my family thinks I am crazy to not giving up.
Sorry to see that Tippy. I lost two big limbs on my Gold Dust this year, the tree is spindly and the fruit plus squirrels after them broke the limbs. There was at least enough bark so they stayed alive and I got the fruit to ripen (well, I got a bit of it, the squirrels got the most). I cut them off after the fruit had ripened.
Well if it makes you feel any better I had a decent fruit set but me being the noob I am did not spray for PC and lost about 90% of my peaches to insects. Out of the remaining peaches I lost all but 3 peaches to squirrels. I have 4 apples left, and about 20 Asian pears. I have a squirrel trap sitting on my front porch waiting to be unpackaged to kill those dirty $%#@! and I am stockpiling enough chemicals that my fruit will likely glow at night next year … If the weather permits I will have some fruit next year … Or I am going to go Caddyshack (the movie) on the rodents and insect pests.
Mamuang. Hate to see such a rough year for you.
We had a rough year here too. First the -10F weather in early December last year killed lots of fruit buds on peaches. Then the very very early bloom of peaches starting on March 6 set up for spring damage, which we received when we had two subsequent days of 18F. We still had peaches left but lots of trees blank.
We had torrential rains which cracked most of what summer apples (and plums) we had.
I planted 3.5 acres of sweet corn (in staggered plantings). This was the first year to try this and I won’t be trying it again. It brought in about 300 blackbirds, which are tearing the corn to pieces. I’ve hired a neighbor boy with a pellet gun and put a bounty of $1 per head on any blackbirds he can bring down. The sweet corn has brought in so many birds that bird pecks on peaches have increased substantially. It has also drawn in more coons.
I put in more tomato plants this season, but the nursery I purchased the starts from sold me a bunch of mislabeled tomato plants (about 15%) so instead of tomatoes I could sell off these plants, they are actually Roma tomatoes, which don’t do very well for me because they are determinate, and there is little demand for canning tomatoes at my stand.
On a positive note, our blackberries did really well this year. Upick cherries also did well.
Only adding my struggles to this thread as a consolation that we all have bad luck, even people growing for money.
That’s part of what it means to be part of this community of fruit growers. We share our successes and defeats, and hopefully learn as we go.
Hope things go better for you the rest of this season.
A couple of times I had to put 2x4s under branches because it looked like they might break from fruit load.
Two years ago I had a pulled-down apple branch break. It was a solid branch and would have taken a lot of force to break it (no fruit). I think a deer got snagged on the cord while browsing the foliage. I never thought of that scenario before.
Thank you guys for your kinds words.
Scott, between you, @BobVance, @mrsg47 and I, we have lost so many fruit to pests (big and small) and diseases, we could easily form a Brotherhood/Sisterhood of Misery, East Coast chapter
@SpudDaddy, your comment about your fruit glowing at night is funny. As long as YOU are not the one going to glow in the dark, we’ll be all happy.
@AJfromElmiraNY, honestly, to me, this branch did not post a threat of breaking at all. In fact, the other branches on the other side of the same tree was my concern. Now I use stacked lawn chairs to hold that branch up. I don’t have a 2x4 and too lazy to go out to buy it.
@Olpea, so nice to hear from you. I am all right and is very close to getting over the loss.
Your loss is a lot greater than mine as you do this for a living. I really feel bad for all the troubles you have had this reason. Mine is only an expensive (and can be rewarding) hobby. Thanks for sharing your story, too.
I have about 20+ mislabeled tomato plants in my backyard. It’s our own doing because we messed up the labels when transferring them in pots.