Speed is right. Most recommendations are the earlier the better. Paul Friday has recommended blossom thinning so that the tree has more energy to put into the remaining fruitlets increase cell count.
Someone even sells a blossom thinner to hook on the end of drill, called a cinch thinner.
Cinch thinners are gaining a lot of popularity among growers because they save labor later on, when peachlets must be hand thinned.
Saying all this there is a caveat nobody in the industry talks about much, Sean. That is, a lot of the fruit you see in the photo will fall off anyway. They just won’t grow much, and will eventually sort of atrophy and fall.
This is HIGHLY cultivar dependent.
Nevertheless if you thin to the correct amount this early, there is a good chance you will over thin.
So maybe i thin… but not thin about every 6"? Possibly every 3 or so, then revisit in a few weeks? Also in regards to spraying do you have any recommendations? Should i spray separately waiting in-between? Or can i go ahead and mix it all up and apply? Also do i need a sticker with this stuff like i did the copper?
I’ll let @scottfsmith answer your questions w/ spraying Surround. I’ve never used Surround. I don’t think it’s recommended to use a sticker w/ Surround because it inhibits the irritability of the Surround particles to the insect. I do think based upon the size of your peaches, you should think about protecting them from plum curculio with something, if that is a problem pest in your area.
Yes, Olpea is correct that you should not use a sticker. I commonly mix Surround, spinosad, and Serenade. I usually also throw Tri-Tek oil in as well as a touch of MSG. The oil smothers both bugs and diseases, and the msg is supposed to make the spinosad a bit more effective. You use a minuscule amount of MSG, I think I use 1/4 tsp in my 5 gallon backpack.
I just watched a video from DWN and on one of these branches (on a plum, not peach) Tom cuts the tip right of the branch leaving it effectively leafless. So the question is does it matter of the branch had zero leaves? Will the fruit still develop our should i just prune it out? Thinking future i say prune it out now because of it has no leaves it won’t do me any good next season. Another side of me says if it does have fruit that will develop keep it and let that fruit form. But it all comes down to the question on if that fruit will end up forming.
I prune that stuff off. Generally the peach will grow some but if you have plenty of peaches that’s some of the first stuff you want to remove so you can grow more peaches in more optimum places.
You could always leave so you can see how it turns out. Generally not only are they smaller but not very sweet.
Sean,
I would follow Olpea’s advice. You’ve gotten a lot of good advice from members here.
I take off peaches that are twins/triplets or on branches that have no leaves first. Then, I thin by spacing them.
You seem to lean toward organic. If so, you should search for the Low Impact Spray Schedule thread that Scott posted on this forum. Read and/or re- read it. It contains lot of the info you are looking for.
If I were you, I would start removing those on branches that have no leaves tomorrow.
In your pics, your peach trees do not have many leaves. Some branches have none. It is hard to feed all those many fruit with not many leaves. But that is my way of thinning.
