I almost feeling guilty writing this post because I know winter is still hanging on in many areas north of my adopted home. But one of my peach trees is blooming and I just had to share.
Some of my excitement stems from the fact that I got those trees as a Mother’s Day gift last year, when they were half price at the home improvement store. In Southeast Texas, May is a bit late to be planting trees and shrubs. However, they managed to survive the summer heat, and after a dormancy period of about 2 months, the first one started blooming almost two weeks ago.
Both trees are still small (3 years old now) so I don’t think I’ll get much fruit this year. The second tree has also just started blooming, so I’m not sure they will be able to cross pollinate. Of course the pollinators would have to be out and about now to help things along. Normally, I wouldn’t complain about the absence of bugs. However, as a gardener I do appreciate the bees and butterflies. So I guess we’ll see in July or August if I have a peach harvest.
The Project Queen
I have several peach trees that put on a lot fruit every year, to the point of being overloaded. I found that pruning the thin limbs produces bigger mature peaches, but have a hard time keeping the worms out of them. I have been told that they need to be sprayed when they are flowering to keep the worms out, but I have not had any success avoiding the pests. I hate to use any insecticide, but I sure like peaches. Unfortunately, so do the bugs...and squirrels.
ReplyDeleteThe most recent post addresses this a little bit. I just pruned off the suckers at the bottom of my trees and thinned the fruit today. My other tree just really started blooming in the last week and has at least 2 tiny peaches on it. The fruit that's getting close to at least an 1" in size, I'm going to cover with brown paper bags tomorrow. So far I don't see any blemishes or holes so I'm hoping I'll beat the bugs. As far as squirel deterents go, I have 4 dogs who put the "fear of God" in varmints. If you don't have a squirel posse patroling your yard, you might want to try sprinkling blood meal around plants that the rodents enjoy. You won't be able to smell it, but they will. While you're enjoying the benefits of fertilzer, the critters will think something was killed there and the area isn't safe.
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