Probably half a dozen times a day, I walk around and check on the fruit trees. I never realized how quickly the fruit grows. At some point, it may seem like things slow down but at this point, I’m amazed at how quickly it’s growing. Maybe earlier in my life, I just didn’t have the time or didn’t take the time to watch it so closely but I’m having fun watching it and am in awe of what those trees can produce.
Peach Blossom
See those little pointy tails sticking out the middle of the peach blossom? That’s the beginning of a peach. I never knew a peach had a tail! 🙂
Peach Blossom
Here it is looking more like a baby peach and less like a peach blossom.
Baby Peach
And there it is without the blossom. Look at the peach fuzz already on it. A perfect little peach. Not only will I be thrilled to be eating these home grown peaches but I’m thrilled to get to watch them grow.
The not so thrilling part . . I’ve been having to thin them. It’s so hard to pinch off a perfectly healthy peach but they need to only be growing about 6″ apart and our trees were loaded.
Peaches
Here’s a spot with four of them in one clump. Three will have to go. That’s just wrong but I know it has to be done.
Peaches
This is kind of a blurry picture but there are a few peaches that are growing together so if one comes off, they both come off. Since there aren’t any real close on that same branch, I’m going to leave them and see what happens.
Plums
There are plums.
Lemons
And lemons on all the lemon trees.
Figs
And my favorite . . figs!
It’s going to be a yummy year around here!
Laura says
I have a hard time with thinning the peaches too … seems like I’m getting rid of perfectly good fruit, even though it has to be done. We only have one peach tree, but it seems like I thin out hundreds of little peaches.
Marsha says
Mother Nature is amazing!
Rebecca in SoCal says
Very interesting! I don’t think I have EVER seem a baby peach before. That fig looks so funny with no leaves around it; just growing from the branch!
Now I’m wondering about peaches. If they didn’t have human intervention, would the clusters grow big enough fruits to produce a viable seed? Are you just thinning them to get big juicy fruity peaches? (Once again, I am so not a farmer!)
JudyL says
I don’t think the tree can support too much fruit and if not thinned, there will be small, hard and probably not very tasty peaches. It is recommended to either prune them each year (since peaches grow on the old growth) or thin them by pinching. We had pruned ours last year and they didn’t really need pruning this year. Had we pruned them, we would have a whole lot less hand thinning that needs to be done.
Sandi B says
When I was 16 or 17, I had a job one summer thinning apples. If I couldn’t reach enough with the orchard ladders, I’d climb the trees. The foremen nearly had a heart attack! I still climbed the trees. What fun! It did seem strange to knock 3 out of 4 apples off a bunch. Best job I ever had!!!!
myrna sossner says
Ain’t nature grand!!! There is a mango tree in our back yard and nature just aborts a lot of the immature fruit. I wonder if the peaches would do that too?
JudyL says
I don’t think the peaches are as likely to shed the extra fruit but instead, the yield would be just a bunch of hard, tasteless peaches. The pear and plum trees will throw off excess fruit and that’s why they do so well even as wild trees.