Just an update. I did two soap treatments, and last week I applied a broad range pesticide named “Sumithion”. Seems to of helped a bit, but the tree just looks absolutely dreadful now. There’s also some weird string things on some of the leaves:
This time last year was a week before harvest. Right now, what beaches are left are about the size of golf balls. The way the tree looks, I’m not even sure I want to eat whatever fruit it’s going to produce!
those strings are lace wing eggs, beneficial insects
Some much-needed good news, thank you!
Voracious aphid-eaters
Well the pesticide I used appears to have worked, gave the tree some breathing room, it seems to be making a fine recovery. However, if it were last year I would have harvested the peaches two weeks ago. The best of them are about 2/3 the size they should be and rockhard, and the rest are even smaller. Will these ever rippen up, or are they a done game now?
I should add that the same thing happened to my grapes last year. I had 40 organic bunches all huge and they sized up well, were bagged and looking really good. Then the beetles ate all of the leaves off, and most of the grapes fell on the ground, and what was left never colored up. I knew it was game over by then, because Cold fall temperatures were hitting.
But in this case, the tree is still actively growing, flushing out a lot a new leaves and branches, and there’s a lot of the hot season left. However, the peaches should’ve been harvested by now,. Do peaches continue to grow and ripen off-season, or is this impossible?
If trees lose leaves the ripening can seriously slow down and they often don’t ripen well at all…
That’s very interesting. Do you think they’ll stay in suspended animation, while the tree puts out new leaves and branches, for the next three months until it gets cold?
Tree might be healthier in the long run if you sacrifice the fruit
It has no problem growing, I’m going to have to cut it back again soon. This was a special incident due to severe pests eating the leaves suddenly, and moles getting the roots, during fruit formation. I have no concerns about the fruit stunting the tree at all. Just wondering if I need to keep checking the fruit, repairing the bags etc. , or if this is an open and shut case where it simply will never develop past the normal ripening season.
