posted 52 minutes ago
Em, Hello, Happy Sol-stead day to you. Peaches, I really love them. My farm’s soil in western WA loves to decompose them with fungus, soil bacteria, and bugs faster than they can grow. Stubborn and hungry I planted 10 around my 8b farm in a few wetter micro climates. 6 did not even leaf out of dormancy, and by the next year all had died. I have native roses, and cherries,( same family as) peaches so they should be able to make it here. Companion planting with a Rosa rugosa, (local wild rose) has worked with Elberta, Frost, Red Haven, but peaches still seemed slow growing. In places I have only clay, so soil depth with deeper planting 4’ holes of my own compost was a start. Later, planting in dry locations stand alone Baby Crawford, King George, and a John Fanick with 4-5 grams pelleted zinc sulfate in the soil near the tree 4-5 inches from trunk the peaches took off. Adding spring Composted Pig manure (phytic acid rich phosphates) 2’ out narrow ring of 2lbs wet and water timely causes roots to chase outward ie more growth.
Copper or Zinc Sulfates, I don’t like either fungicide, mossicide/algaecide. Yet the second you plant peaches they start to get eaten by everthing so a small amount of Zn SO4 at least encourages quick and abundant leaf growth, limits pathogenic colonization, which helps slow the decomposition of the trunk. One more ring of zinc just outside manure line from tree at year 2 same amount, and that’s it, no more. ZnSO4 binds into horseradish, garlic companions planted just inside the manure line helps bug and larger competitive friends mind the P’s and Q’s. This is a start. I hope this helps, Cheers.
Nature lives everyday in balance. On Solstice we free ourselves of gravity at the top of Earth’s orbital arc, as time steads our sun to equity twice yearly to remind us.