“Give peach a chance.”

Last year was great for blackberries and grapes (and wine) but peaches were hit hard by a fungus that ruined a good many. Called Brown Rot it begins with a small brown spot that quickly takes over, rotting the fruit then turning it into a shriveled up mummy.

Not wanting to use a lot of chemicals with names I cannot pronounce, I decided to fertilize. This plus many buckets of water seemed to do the trick. We had a bumper crop. Too many, in fact. I was away and unavailable when too many peaches showed up.

I culled the extras (better late than never, I thought) but not enough. Branches were loaded down. Some broke. And on one particular tree, the peaches ripened despite not much larger than a ping pong ball.

We salvaged most of them (cobbler, ice cream, fruit bowls), but the last ones still on the tree ended up with brown rot anyway. I’m thinking the tree was stressed due to too much weight and branch damage.

I’ll do better next year.

Once again it appears that what I’m growing most out here is patience.

Here’s a Clemson News article about diseases and insect affecting peaches