Gardening Thread - Show me your gardens!

Our zuchs about size of a finger right now...maybe another week if it gets some heat

 

Yep. Good to be getting things going again. Am sure yours will be right on time for you too.

 

Folks, please educate me a little here. I have two things going on with my fruit trees: First, there were what seemed like a hundred peaches and apples and then they all of a sudden start dying off and dropping when they were no bigger than a marble (only a dozen survived off each tree and they are a few inches in diameter now). Second, my peach tree is getting these holes in the leaves, but I don't see anything eating at them.

I'm new to gardening and such, but you know the american dream.....home, land, tractor, fruit trees!

 

My 2 cents.

How old are the trees? How much water do they have weekly? Peaches need 200+ gal of water a week. They will drop fruit they cannot support if there is no enough water or tree is young. Apple is similar. Are they mulched? They need 2" of pine bark mulch all around the drip area (fruit trees like acidic soil, hence the pine bark mulch)
Your tree has fungus, hence the hole. Peaches, plums, nectarines are very susceptible to fungus.

Get this, follow directions on the bottle, approved for stone fruit:

$40 Dow AgroSciences 173917 Eagle 20EW Fungicide, 16oz-1 Pint

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004S6ZZFM

Copper is a natural fungicide. I've had no luck with it on the fruit trees. I've tried. I have 1 peach, 2 nectarine, 5 plum and 4 apple trees.

PS feed your trees this, twice a year, fall and spring.

$171 Jobe’s Garden Fertilizer Spikes, Easy Plant Care Slow Release Fertilizer for Fruit and Citrus Plants and Trees, 160 Count

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NI7MN2

 

Im no expert but could be a number of things. Google pic search says leaf curl damage from fungal infection. Possible bug damage. As for the peaches not setting also could be a few things...not enough polinators, if its a self pollinator another peach tree helps. Could been a frost you didnt notice, or something stressing the tree.

Im still learning fruit trees myself, i need to do heavy prune on my apple trees this winter.

 

Thanks for the quick look!
The trees are 2-3 yrs old and no....they don't get that much water weekly, but I will change that from now on. I will also pick up pine bark mulch and the fungicide. But, the second link for feeding doesn't work. What is it and I'll add it to my cart!
thanks again. I can at least make sure I do it properly in the future.

 

Tree that young fruit should be quite limited to just a few fruits. Despite it fighting fungus and bugs it’s probably self thinning a bit

 

I did make sure that there were only a few fruit on each limb to ensure it doesn't weigh it down, but as a beginner....I'll take any guidance I can get to do it right. And, also because youtube is only good for certain things!

 

Younger plants cannot support a lot of fruit. A couple of weeks ago I picked all the berries off the 5 newest blueberry bushes. They had been in the ground only a year (+2 years in the pot before I bought them). This year they will work on growing roots and stems, not berries.

Jobe's garden spikes for fruit trees, 160 spike case.
I fixed the link above. It is a big case, but shelf life is several years. You are in VA, so you get pretty warm. Mulch will help with keeping water in the soil. Expand the mulch circle as the tree grows, my peach mulch is 25ft in diameter.

$171 Jobe’s Garden Fertilizer Spikes, Easy Plant Care Slow Release Fertilizer for Fruit and Citrus Plants and Trees, 160 Count

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NI7MN2

 

Even that sounds like too much. The whole tree maybe should have zero to 3-4 fruits. It's just a thing with fruit trees IMHO. Spraying, pruning, spraying thinning, lots of water and enough food. You will be rewarded 5 years plus. If not the tree may be struggle bus entire life.

 

Plant several circles of garlic around your fruit trees in the fall. If you want to plant garlic now, put garlic heads in the fridge first for 3 weeks to give them enough chill hours. Leave garlic in and let it spread.
They will protect the trees from borers. I lost a plum to them and now they are attacking the apricot, only one fruit tree I had not planted the garlic around.

 

Agreed with the suggestions in replies. The fruit trees, grafted or not, usually will drop fruit especially when they're that young. It will handle only what it can. 2-3 years old is young, and your leaves look very healthy except for the mentioned "fungus". I see normal "flying insect" marks, they nibble on the edges of the fruit tree leaves. Not to worry about that. Copper fungicide sprayed on the top and bottom of all leaves once a month we use for the fungus. Our citus trees suffer in FL from airborne disease, produces leaf curl. I'll regrettably use a chemical application called "Seven". Applied every two weeks to keep leafminers and other damaging pests to those citrus trees.

we have mango trees that endure very similar leaf damage. The trees experience fruit drop in the early years, like yours. Now they're matured and dont drop as many.

The mulching Barsoom mentioned is key. Get a nice layer around them, that'll keep the soil moist. That mulch breaks down and enhances the soil that feeds your tree. I leave a 8 - 12 inch diameter around the fruit tree trunk bare/mulchless, then lay the mulch from there on out about 3-4 ft.

We fertilize ours twice a year, then reuse and add to the mulch during each fert application. Worms and microbes break it all down for the tree to absorb and thrive.

We also apply nutrients every 2 weeks to our plants and trees, Miracle Grow plant food. $12 at HomeDepot for a container of 4 packets.

 

Much appreciate the good input here! I'm a noob to this so I'm trying to take the experienced approach instead of trial and error. I've ordered all the items mentioned and will begin applying per instructions as well as pick up a bunch of pine bark mulch! This just give me another excuse to pull out the tractor and dig a trench line with the backhoe for irrigation!

 

Miracle Grow Foliar feed works great!
Watch for after season sales at Walmart. Last year I bought out the local Walmart when they discounted the 4 pack Miracle Grow. $5 for one container. I think I got 20 of them.

I make my mulch rings larger for 2 reasons. Ease of mowing (not being slapped by the branches, my trees are close to the house, mostly within the fenced yard to keep the deer away) and by very dry summers in GA. Some years we could go 2 months without any rain in the summer, with the temps in high 90s. Since roots reach out to the drip line, I make my mulch rings the same size.

PS I also add wood ash to my stone fruit trees. Rake the mulch and spread a shovelful, then cover back up.
We use only soybean oil when we burn our brush and trimmings, so ash does not have any petrochemical residue from lighter fluid. Sam's Club has 35# jugs of it fairly cheap.

 

Wow, always picking up great ideas from you and the others here.
Reminded me about that ash, as well as expanding mulched radius.

 

Finally got a set of disc harrows.

 

Two honeyberry bushes loaded. The fruit is not really that sweet. But it's good. Wife picked a ton and made a nice pot of jam.

https://www.honeyberryusa.com/about-honeyberry.html

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/honeyberries/how-to-grow-honeyberries.htm

 

Honeyberry washes out the heavy metals, including radioactive isotopes.
They were used to treat radiation sickness after the Chernobyl disaster and have been used in Soviet and Russian space programs.

Strawberry and honey berry jam is really good.
I would love to try making fig (since they are so sweet) and honeyberry jam. It's just too hot down here. I tried growing them for 8 or 10 years, but they did not make it.

 

red hibiscus has some flowers. some leaves are yellowing - not sure if its over watering or needs some fertilizer/nutrients

Yellow and pink hibiscus shrubs are still growing their leaves