The town that I am in has about 1,500 peach trees. We are on a ridge about 500’ above sea level here in Central Maine (the ocean is about 30 miles to the East as the crow flies)…so that helps with late spring frosts. The other peach orchard that inspired me to grow them here is 2 ridges over…he is a West Coast native that has had peach trees since the mid-90’s. So I guess that our geographic location coupled with a moderating climate and a bit of luck (maybe?) has allowed us to become the unofficial peach capitol of Maine (ha!). We’ve got a rep from the University of Maine cooperative extension visiting us in a couple of weeks and she mentioned that she may bring some new peach varieties to trial…exciting stuff!
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Wow, thinned a lot of fruitlets. It is a good signs that you have plenty of fruits set this year. Our last frost day has not passed yet so still hoping this year we will not have too severe late frost. My India free, entire branch has two flowers, very pathetic. But better than none though.
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There is a big difference in the density of blooms between varieties. Sometimes I think part of Redhaven’s claim to fame for cold hardiness is that it has so many blooms that even if it loses 90% there is still a lot of blooms. For me, PF24C is even worse. My favorite is O’Henry. Very few blooms, so it is really easy to thin. Too bad that I haven’t enjoyed the flavor of O’Henry all that much. Indian Free is in between from a bloom density standpoint, but I sure have enjoyed the flavor.
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Awesome! Make sure you only leave one fruit every 10-12” and be on top of spraying and you should enjoy great fruits this summer… Which nectarine variety is this?
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My first year of thinning. I don’t think I could bear to only leave 10-12" between!
I left more like 4".
I had read - ‘leave a hand’s width’. ? You must have BIG hands, Ahmad! LOL Guess I should go back and bite the bullet - and take off more. ?
The 2 varieties I have are Mericrest and Harko. I have several nectarine scions that appear to have taken, as well - on both the peach and nectarine trees.
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4 or even 6 inches is not enough at all for peaches/nectarines! Not only will you get subpar quality, but will also risk branch/scaffold breaking. If you are going after quantity you may as well buy them from supermarket or farmers market. Believe me, I am talking from experience, the difference in quality is very big between properly thinned and inadequately thinned. I leave one fruit per branch (towards its middle), and keep my branches 12-18” long by heading cuts; and this gives me the best quality nectarines.
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OK. OK!
I’m going back out there and pulling more off. But I’m not happy about it! 
Seriously . . . . I know that you know what you are talking about. I’ll follow your lead.
‘The proof is in the pudding’.
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I am just trying to help you eat wonderful fruits at harvest time… Fruit thinning breaks the heart of even the most experienced growers 
…
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Sometimes,it will take me a few times, over about a week,to thin a tree.
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Do you leave a few extra in case of pest damage or other “accidents”? Then remove these later or all at once?
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No, I don’t. I usually will get a handful of pest-injured fruits per tree after thinning (I bag my fruits), which is insignificant.
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I think I asked you this already, but what Zone are you in?
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I am with you. I do several rounds of thinnings. This way I have less pain of doing that😧
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My Grosse Mignonne white peach is a medium sized peach so right now my peaches are about three to four inches apart or more.
We are officially in 5A…sandwiched between 4B to our Northwest and 5B to our Southeast.
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Thanks @maineorchard. And I DID ask you that previously. I am not very adept at all the search features, but was finally able to find the post I was looking for. It just still amazes me you do so well with peaches there, especially with the winter lows you get. We don’t get as cold as where you are, usually. But we have fluctuating temps all winter long, like a roller coaster. Those warm ups bring the trees out of deep dormancy too soon, and the fruit buds get damaged by freezing temps. 
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i think hes close to the coast which buffers the cold in the winter and stabilizes the spring temps better than inland Maine. also has a cooling effect in summer depending on where the winds are coming from.
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That’s the perfect timing to spray for pc. About the time the apple blossoms drop is when pc shows up so you can wipe them out then. I spray one more time about two weeks later.
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So does pruning a new tree to shape but it’s got to done.
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Sometimes one limb has no fruits and leaving extra on another limb averages that out!
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