Partial Success with Peaches

This was the WORST season to grow peaches organically in Virginia in the 10 years I have been growing them here.  We had so much rain, I either could not use the regular organic sprays (they would wash off or it was raining when I was free) and rain encourages the awful molds and rots that affect peaches.  I had also decided that this might be the season I would take out all three trees.

A few months ago I posted the first photo below in a blog on bagging my peaches.  This labor-intensive method is used for apples in some situations, but not as often for stone fruits.  I took regular paper lunch sacks and used a stapler to hold the bags on, after I had gathered in the edges.

My first concern was that the bags would not last for the few months till harvest. Even with all this rain, they lasted just fine (a few fell off due to being put on poorly).

(below is a photo of my typical harvest- they peaches look OK and have enough usable flesh on them, but might have little caterpillars inside).

Did this method work?  After a fashion.  I probably bagged the peaches too late, after some insects had laid their eggs under the skin and they had been exposed to disease.  Some of the bagged peaches did spoil or fell off.  But, enough came through looking good that I decided to keep two trees and try again next year.  The peach on the left, below, was bagged, the one on the right was not.  You can see the bagged peach is imperfect, but it was intact, had no rot and no unwelcome creature inside.  I did have to take the bag off when the peach reached full size- it seems that peaches need some sun to fully ripen.  But, even though other peaches on the trees were infected with fungal rots, many bagged peaches did just fine.

So, lessons for next year:

1. Spray early with Surround, a kaolin clay mix, and antifungals then

2. bag as many peaches as I can, after thinning.  I will probably try this with my apple tree too!

I am also going to be severely pruning the trees (more so than I already have).  Peaches need this, and these particular trees are shading too much of my veg garden.  

I hope this works. I love peaches, but commercial peaches are in the top 5 of pesticide-residue fruit and have multiple chemicals sprayed on them.

Happy gardening!

Partial Success

The phrase "partial success" in gardening is about as exciting as the sports chant "We're Number 2,"  but partial success is what I have and partial success is what I will accept.  Last summer I had just come off a more than full-time, academic-year job and had sadly neglected my garden, including my peaches.  We got very few peaches and a lot of brown rot.  This year, I vowed to do better or to chop them down. We extensively pruned in winter and I sprayed dormant oil.  In spring, I sprayed organic caterpillar sprays and organic anti-fungals.  I sprayed Surround (tm) several times during the growing season and had my husband (a great guy) thin the young peaches severely.  This year, we have better yield, still too much brown rot to be happy with, but more good, whole fruit and, some damaged fruit that we can salvage. The photo above is an example of the best of the peaches- the white spots are the Surround (a kaolin clay spray that deters bugs).  So, no chopping down this year.  I intend to do the same routine, plus have better orchard clean up this year to reduce overwintering fungal spores and bugs. Here's to an ever better 2013 harvest!

Happy gardening!  Remember to click on the podbean link and listen to my podcast, or find it through itunes:  VirginiaOrganicGardener.

The Sign of a Good Gardener?

Why are these bags of "trash" the sign of a good gardener?  Well, that involves a story. I first planted four peach trees (two Elberta and two Red Haven) about eight years ago.  The first few years, they grew and grew.  The third year they blossomed for the first time and we got a decent crop of organic fruit.  This lulled us into a false sense of security.  The next year the trees set more fruit, and it was too much for them, Oh, we read about thinning, but could not bring ourselves to pull off many little fruits that could be destined to be delicious PEACHES!  So, we got lots of small peaches with little flesh.  And the branches of the trees actually snapped off under the weight of the fruit.  I swear I heard a few branches groan and snap off in the middle of the night.  We learned that, to produce a decent crop of good fruit, you need to pull off NINE of every TEN peaches when they are marble size, so the tree puts energy into making fewer, larger fruits (some sources say to pull off 19 of every 20 peaches!).  And this is what these bags in the photos above represent-  you see three bags of thinnings here, two more are in the trash and two more in the garden...and we are still thinning.
So, what does this have to do with being a good gardener?  A good gardener steels herself to pull off a ton of peaches (or apples, pears, plums...) to get a good crop.  A good gardener removes an under performing plant.  A good gardener takes out a plant that is the wrong size, shape or form for the place.  Gardening is not all about the planting and harvesting, it is about the good sense to "unplant," to thin, to realize your mistakes and correct them.
Happy thinning!
Happy gardening!

Peaches: Can you grow them organically?

Peaches: Can you grow them organically?
Peaches are one of my favorite fruits. When I moved to central Virginia I decided to give them a try. I got a pamphlet from the Ag Extension agent that suggested it was not possible to grow peaches organically in this area. Is this true? Yes and no. Emboldened by an article in Organic Gardening magazine (Rodale Press), I ordered 4 peach trees, 2 Red Haven and 2 Elberta. They seemed to be sturdy trees with the least problems with disease. I planted them in garden soil amended with compost and soaked peat moss (always soak your peat moss in water before you use it, otherwise it can act as a wick and dry out the roots of whatever you are planting). I fertilized with a granulated organic fruit tree fertilizer.

The peaches grew well and flowered in their third year. We got a good crop in terms of volume, but they were far from perfect. Their skins were mottled (no problem if you peel them) and they had some peach borer damage, which caused some secondary fungus. What this meant in practice was that 2/3 to ¾ of each peach (for the most part) was edible (and delicious). They were fine for fresh eating (washed, peeled and sliced, not “out of hand” eating- you might encounter a bad spot or little critter) and even better for making jam, canning in syrup and dehydrating. The other 1/3 to ¼ had to be pitched, but we still had lots.

The next year I discovered Surround, a wet-able, spray-on clay. It prevents fruit moths from laying eggs in the fruit if sprayed on from blossom drop through the season end (it is thought that they don’t like the grit). You have to re-spray after a significant rain. It improved the quality of the peaches immensely! The peaches were bigger, less blemished and had far fewer borers and rot. The trees did look a little ghostly, though, but it was worth it. Edible Landscaping, a plant nursery in Afton, VA, exclusively uses Surround on their fruit trees and recommend it highly.

This season (’08) was tough. It threatened rain as frequently and I decided to spray Surround, so I did not keep the peaches consistently covered with the stuff. The peach trees set out so much fruit that we had to thin thousands of peaches off the trees. The quality was not as good as year two, but we still had lots of peach pies and have lots of canned, frozen and dried peaches, enough to go through the winter.

So, is growing peaches organically here in Central VA impossible? Yes, if you want unblemished and perfectly formed fruit. But unblemished fruit comes at a cost to my family’s health, and the health of the environment, through the use of pesticides, fungicides and I-don’t-know-what-all-a-cides! (Many people do not know that some of these chemicals, derived from stocks of nerve gas left over from WWII, were never thoroughly tested for long-term safety to humans). But if you want organic, tasty peaches that you can eat fresh, cook with, can and make jam from, the answer is NO, it is NOT impossible!!

One of my favorite "critter control" methods for peaches and other fruit- squirrels LOVE fruit, but having a dog who loves to chase critters is the best squirrel control programs I know of! My "critter ridder" photo is also posted!

Next year I plan to use Surround more consistently, along with dormant oil spray and organic fungicides (plus I promise to do a better job thinning the peaches!). Look for a post of the outcome sometime in July ’09!