Cindi Ressler Photography: April 2014

This beautiful peach blossom belongs to my peach tree.

It is the Peach Reliance. The Peach Reliance is an excellent choice for the northern gardener as they can with stand temperatures to -25 degrees and here in Maine that temperature isn't unlikely. In fact this year it will be interesting to see how the Peach Reliance does with all the sub freezing temperatures we've had.

Peach trees in general take about 4-5 years to start producing fruit which can be a negative for those who want to grow peaches and want them the same year, but on the positive side you don't need 2 trees for pollination as some fruit trees do. One is sufficient.

Last year was my first full year and we easily got enough peaches to can over 24 pint jars with plenty left over. Probably would have gotten a lot more if I had known how to treat the tree with some of the issues it had. I had a hard time figuring out issues such as spots on the fruit, sap on the fruit, canker.

You know I have to say I found it difficult to find the information I needed to know about my problems with my peach tree. So this year I will try harder to stay on top of things and try to get any pests or diseases as soon as I see them. In fact I think I will get in touch with some local growers to see what they have done to deal with such problems.

I'm going to be pruning this year pretty heavily clearing out branches that are crossing each other and thinning out the whole tree in general. I will be leaving one year old branches that have three buds on it. The center bud is the leaf bud and the two outer buds are the flowers.

I'll fertilize in May. When the tree starts producing fruit I will start thinning them out to one fruit every six to eight inches on a twig. This will be the hard part as I don't want to get rid of any fruit, but to ensure a healthy tree I need to get over it an do it.

Growing peaches as with any fruit or vegetable is through trial and error. I do make it a habit to use as much organic materials as possible including any pest control I may and hopefully may not need.

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