I have a dwarf peach tree with many,many SMALL peaches on it. The peaches are white inside, yellow outside and are ripening and falling from the tree daily. The peaches are the size of apricots,however. This is the second year that this has happened. Last year we had NO peaches that were of normal size left on the tree...they all fell off when they were still small...although the skin was yellow and the flesh was soft and semi sweet. We do not know if this tree has ever produced a normal crop since we have only lived here 2 seasons.
Small Peaches Perhaps you merely need to thin the fruits each year to get full-sized ones. Other kinds of fruit trees, such as Asian pears and apples often produce quantities of undersized fruit unless thinned.
Thanks for your reply. We thinned them heavily about 3 months ago. We tried to space them about 3 to 4 inches apart but we still have this terrible fruit drop. We are baffled!
Hi Ragtag: It is not unusual for many of the dwarf Peaches to produce very small fruit and many of them. Without being able to see your tree I will suggest you really thin your tree more than once a year, starting for you where you are in April. That is when I start my first thinning here but on commercial Peaches. You may even have to thin every 3 weeks to generate any real size to the fruit but I must caution you that many dwarf Peaches also produce dwarf fruit. It is quite common in what we call the dwarf "Water Peaches", the white colored and unusually watery fleshed dwarf Peaches. What you may want to try to do aside from several thinnings providing the tree is getting ample water is to apply some Calcium nitrate granulated fertilizer around in February. About 1 1/2 pounds worth broadcast in a circle about 2 feet away from the base of the tree. Either let the rain (I know, what rain!) wash it into the ground or you will have to with a hose. Calcium has been shown to suppress some fruit, especially Apples, from dropping in mass prematurely but with many of the dwarf Peaches, premature drop close to picking is rather a common occurrence. Jim
Thank you,Jim! I have tried to get info on my dwarf tree before to no avail! We thinned again yesterday(probably too late) but figured "what the heck. What have we got to lose?" Next year I will take your advice with respect to the thinning and the fertilizer regimine. Hose watering is what we do here. We have it on a drip system and we try to deep water once per month. Thanks again for your help! Jo Ann
