# Peaches never mature



## justletmein (Feb 11, 2006)

I have a huge Peach tree, very large and healthy tree it seems. Problem is that it seems to get fruit every other year, and when it does it's loaded with fruit that grows rapidly to about the size of a jumbo marble and then sits green for a couple months on the tree and finally falls off/rots/dies. Is the tree missing something I can add, need more water???


----------



## RiverRat1962 (Mar 23, 2009)

I think the mild winter had something to do with it. Not enough chill hours.


----------



## peckerwood (Jun 9, 2012)

Chances are,if you didn't plant the tree,it's one that came up from a seed and not a hybrid.Any seed from almost all nursery grown trees will return back to the original rootstock it was grafted too.I've seen the problem your discribing alot around old homeplaces,and even planted 16 trees a cat at work dug up and gave me,and they all make little green knots and feel off in late summer.


----------



## justletmein (Feb 11, 2006)

RiverRat1962 said:


> I think the mild winter had something to do with it. Not enough chill hours.


Interesting, I didn't realize this applied to peach trees but it sounds possible. Maybe I bought the wrong type of tree for our climate.



peckerwood said:


> Chances are,if you didn't plant the tree,it's one that came up from a seed and not a hybrid.Any seed from almost all nursery grown trees will return back to the original rootstock it was grafted too.I've seen the problem your discribing alot around old homeplaces,and even planted 16 trees a cat at work dug up and gave me,and they all make little green knots and feel off in late summer.


I bought it from a local nursery (not a hardware store) so I would have thought it would be a good variety, but I don't recall what type of tree it is. It was about 8' tall when I bought it and that was 6 years ago.


----------



## peckerwood (Jun 9, 2012)

I really thought I had your problem figured out.But since you bought and planted the tree,I'm a looser again.I'll be going to Weatherford in the next couple weeks to buy peaches,and I'll ask the dude that owns the orchird what he thinks is going on and get back with you.I have 4 trees left after the drought,and squirrels have almost finished them all off.They've never bothered them before. Jerry


----------



## justletmein (Feb 11, 2006)

peckerwood said:


> I really thought I had your problem figured out.But since you bought and planted the tree,I'm a looser again.I'll be going to Weatherford in the next couple weeks to buy peaches,and I'll ask the dude that owns the orchird what he thinks is going on and get back with you.I have 4 trees left after the drought,and squirrels have almost finished them all off.They've never bothered them before. Jerry


Awesome, thx!


----------



## atcNick (Apr 7, 2005)

Peach trees need lots of fertilizer and need to be pruned. The fruit should be thinned out also.


-Nick


----------



## BullyARed (Jun 19, 2010)

justletmein said:


> I have a huge Peach tree, very large and healthy tree it seems. Problem is that it seems to get fruit every other year, and when it does it's loaded with fruit that grows rapidly to about the size of a jumbo marble and then sits green for a couple months on the tree and finally falls off/rots/dies. Is the tree missing something I can add, need more water???


Dilute two Viagra pills in 5gal of water and feed it!


----------



## justletmein (Feb 11, 2006)

BullyARed said:


> Dilute two Viagra pills in 5gal of water and feed it!


My wife will hate it when I start eating the peaches then, but maybe I can sell them as a miracle cure.


----------



## swifty (May 13, 2005)

My wife has been trying to talk me into planting peach trees for some time now. After reading your problems and hearing about them on a local gardening show, I believe I'll pass. Too dang much work for "iffy" returns.

Good luck to you justletmein.


----------



## justletmein (Feb 11, 2006)

swifty said:


> My wife has been trying to talk me into planting peach trees for some time now. After reading your problems and hearing about them on a local gardening show, I believe I'll pass. Too dang much work for "iffy" returns.
> 
> Good luck to you justletmein.


If I do it again I'm definitely doing my homework before buying. I have a neighbor with a tiny peach tree in their front yard (I say tiny, maybe half the size of mine), they don't do squat and every year they have full healthy looking peaches growing on it.


----------



## spur (May 30, 2004)

justletmein said:


> I have a huge Peach tree, very large and healthy tree it seems. Problem is that it seems to get fruit every other year, and when it does it's loaded with fruit that grows rapidly to about the size of a jumbo marble and then sits green for a couple months on the tree and finally falls off/rots/dies. Is the tree missing something I can add, need more water???


Had that problem with our peach tree last year (it didn't produce this year); the peaches got to a certain size and stopped growing. My husband started watering like no tomorrow. Our soil is about 18 inches deep and goes to caliche rock. He also fertilized it; had a good amount of peaches but not like the first time. It took our tree about 3 years before it produced it first crop.


----------

