Sean: very interesting because my peach is also Elberta. Same thing going on.
U of Delaware states that stone fruit ( including peach) drop could cause by rainy period during bloom or extended cloudy days (4 days) about 5-7 week after bloom. It does not go into detail why but those conditions must somehow interfere with fruit development.
That is one of a more possible explanation I see. So, climate/environment plays a role in peach fruit drop. There are other reasons for other fruit to drop, too.
1 Like
I usually find that early ripe drops are caused by some kind of pest inside the fruit
1 Like
That could explain it. I guess not much to be done about it.
I skip the fruit drop because of insects because that is obvious and the first thing you look for.
If dropped fruit look perfectly fine, then other matters influence it. Looks like climate/weather around bloom time and weeks after bloom ( during early fruit development) plays important role, too.
Hope the weather will be more cooperative with you next year.
1 Like
Your spot on. After a lot ot weather changes during my pear bloom it looked like I would need to thin heavily. Two weeks later they were self thinned to less than I prefered. The good news is that the ones remaining are huge.
1 Like
Bill,
We have had quite a wet spring here. Although I have not had peach drop, I have more pear drop than I would like. Both Asian and Euro.
Next year I will wait a bit longer for pears to get bigger before I bag. I noticed on some dropped pears with bags on, the stems of the pears showed brownish areas caused by plastic bags rubbing the stems.
1 Like
I place the bags around the spurs for just that reason
Can you post pic.
Alas, my pic-posting function doesn’t work
When you said placing bags around the spurs. I am dense. I could not figure what you meant.
Because of @mrsg47 post, I got some Organza bags. Doing apples. I got black in a 4x6 size which is a little small. So I ordered some 5x7. What is neat about these bags is I can do one every ten seconds … that’s say 500+ per hour.
You pull a string on each side and tie an overhand knot or two. The easiest bags that I have used. And they will stay on! Lots of colors to choose from. I wonder if the is a color squirrels dont like?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/112042204955?rmvSB=true
1 Like
I agree organza bags are the easiest to put on. I hope I can reuse them next year.
Of all the fruit I bag (apples, pears, plums, pluots, peaches, nectarines), donut peaches and nectarines are the hardest to put organza bags on because they have almost no stems.
2 Likes
I hope you can use them again. If I could get more than one season out of them I probably would start using them on my peach fruit.
1 Like
I’m trying them for the first time this year,for Nectarines and Peaches.Mine are the 5X7 inch size,in olive to kind of match the leaves.They also came from the same seller. Brady
1 Like
Next year I will try different color bags for different fruit just for the fun of it. My neighbors already think I’m crazy. I may as well confirm it 
3 Likes
I got free small bags (3x3"?) so I put them on plums. For small fruit like plums, I hate to bag individually, too many to bag. Bread bagging a whole branch of plums is the way to go.
2 Likes
Using organza here too on my peaches, 5x7 white, got some free 3x5 green for plums next year.
1 Like
That’s exactly how I do mine except when I tie off the the ribbon, I’ll wrap the ribbon around the limb.
2 Likes
I used my bags on grapes! Hope you have your squirrels under control!
2 Likes