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by Farouk
(Fairfield East, Sydney, Australia)

i-can-almost-touch-it-21667588

White Dwarf Peach

Spring is almost here! I can almost touch it!

Newly planted in this winter.

My Dwarf peach all flowering, she’s happy.

Hi Farouk, glad to hear that spring is on the way in your hemisphere – that is one of my absolute favorite things – the sight of fruit trees blooming, and all the insects busy pollinating them. That’s the important thing to remember with any fruit tree. They are usually cross pollinated by a related tree, that flowers at the same time. So, peaches can be cross pollinated by any other stone fruit, that is a plum, apricot, or nectarine flowering close by. Some fruit trees are sold with a pollinating branch of a different tree grafted onto it – make sure you can identify this different branch, and not accidentally prune it off. Pruning should be done in late summer so they don’t bleed profusely. This is the main difference between Prunus (stone fruit) and Malus (apples and related fruit trees) which are pruned when dormant in early spring.

Once the flowers are pollinated (depending on the weather at the time of flowering, this can be lots or just a few) the tree will go through what we call in the Northern Hemisphere, June drop, where what seems like lots of the tiny just formed fruit drop off. This is nothing to worry about, in most cases, this perfectly normal and natural culling process ensures that the remaining fruit will be larger and healthier, as the tree will be able to push nutrients and water to them as they grow and ripen.

Looking forward to an update on your delightful tree!
Jacki