The hardest thing for me to do is pluck off baby peaches and, as Chad said to me in his “Letter to the Eggs“, ending your already not started life.
Peaches
Too many peaches too close results in a poor crop so now that the little peaches have formed, my job is to pick the healthiest baby and pinch off the others, leaving a small peach every 6 – 8″. With four good trees, we’ll have plenty of peaches but it’s so hard to pinch off those healthy baby peaches, but it’s something that has to be done.
Sherrill Pecere says
WOW! I never knew that (but then I’ve never had a peach tree). You mean someone with a peach orchard has to do that? What a pain!
Judy Laquidara says
Commercial operations have other ways than hand picking to do it. Anything worth having seems to be a lot of hard work. Gardens require weeding, fertilizing, watering. People who don’t grow their own food have no idea how much work goes into the whole process, whether it’s raising beef, chickens, dairy cows, gardens, fruit trees. It’s a whole lot easier to buy things at the store but for the most part, there’s a big difference in home grown or storebought.
I don’t consider it a pain but it’s hard knowing I’m plucking off potential peaches but, it’s all for the good of the crop.
Sandy says
The next time I shop at my local Peach Shed (run by a local grower) I’ll have to remember to ask them how they “peach pinch.” The Shed isn’t open yet this year, but they will be selling fresh picked local vegetables as well as peaches. A great place to shop!
Carol says
I understand the peach pinching dilemma! My husband can hardly do that! I just read him your post today and he said “Ive got to do that!” My Meyer lemon trees also have more blooms than the limbs can support — every year. I don’t thin them, as Mother Nature seems to take care of that with hail and the storms and wind we have.
dezertsuz says
It’s a hard one for me, too. With other kinds of things, but when we had a peach tree, I didn’t do that enough, and eventually we did lose the tree, because the limbs got too heavy and broke off.