Q Q A

Our peach tree bears a lot of fruit; however, some will fall off before they ripen. Why is this occurring, and what do we do to prevent it?

A certain amount of fruit drop is customary with Peaches, Nectarines, Apples, Pears, and Plums. It’s called the ‘June Drop.’ The ‘June Drop’ is Mother Nature’s way of balancing the fruit load on the tree. It’s essential to supplement this by doing some additional hand thinning. With Apples and Pears, you must thin the fruit clusters down to two or three fruits. Also, I’d completely remove those clusters on the outer third of the branches to prevent the limbs from breaking from the weight of the maturing fruit. Peaches, Nectarines, Plums, and Apricots are thinned, leaving enough space between them for each fruit to develop without touching. The space should equal three to four times the size of the mature fruit. Also, you can have fruit maturing on both sides of a branch. Fruit tree thinning is essential to prevent limb breakage and improve fruit size and quality.