North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Anton Callaway <marillen@earthlink.net>]

Jim,

You raise a good point about any gross generalizations.  I'm a big advocate 
of "listening to your trees".  If they are growing vigorously, produce well 
and the leaves have a healthy green color, you may not need fertilization 
other than that provided by your mulch.

In general, peaches are relatively heavy feeders (say vs. pears), so on my 
soils I give them a dose of feather meal, blood meal, calcium nitrate or 
cottonseed meal in the Spring & Fall, but if they're growing well, you may 
not need any of that.

Anton
North Carolina piedmont


-----Original Message-----
>From: nottke1 <nottke1@earthlink.net>
>Sent: Mar 31, 2011 6:44 AM
>To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
>Subject: [NAFEX]  Fertilizing peaches?
>
>Anton & Alan,
>Do peach trees need fertilization?
>I fertilized my peach trees lightly in the Fall of years 2 & 3 but have not 
>fertilized them since they produced their first fruit 12 years ago. They 
>grow vigorously, bloom profusely, and I usually thin off 2 or 3 buckets of 
>culls per tree.  I mulch with oak and hickory leaves each Fall, which I 
>wouldn't consider to be "fertilizer".  My trees are on a sandy-clay ridgetop 
>15 miles west of Winston-Salem.
>Jim
>====================
>Anton wrote;
>>It's interesting that you mention Fall fertilization.  The fellow I did my 
>>Master's with, Dr. Gary Couvillon at UGA, did quite a lot of research on 
>>the effects of Fall fertilization on hardiness and peach tree health.  His 
>>research supported exactly what you said, that fertilizing in the Fall 
>>(within limits, of course) not only did not decrease hardiness, it could 
>>even increase winter hardiness, presumably by increasing solutes in the 
>>buds.  Based on his teachings, I've routinely Fall fertilized for the last 
>>30 years, with no ill effects.
>>
>>Anton
>>North Carolina
>
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