Peach tree dying

Good evening,

Im a rookie when it comes to plants. My relative from Florida gave me a peach tree to take back to Georgia to plant. I planted it in my front yard and watered it generously for the first few weeks but the leaves started getting soft and droopy/falling off. Google said I might be over watering, so I have stopped for almost 3 days now and it doesn’t look any better. I would love to keep this peach tree and have it live, but I have no idea what I’m doing. It had peaches on it when I originally buried it, but they have since fallen off. I’ve attached a few pictures below. Does anybody have any suggestions or advice?

Wecome to Permies, Benji!

How long between when you planted the tree and when the attached photos were taken?  Can you relay in some way how much of a 'root ball' existed on the tree that went under ground when you planted it? This will help to confirm or eliminate potential sources of your problem  Thanks!

Edited to add a potentially useful link from the Extension office of the University of Georgia:  https://extension.uga.edu/topic-areas/fruit-vegetable-ornamentals-production/peaches.html

John Weiland wrote:Wecome to Permies, Benji!

How long between when you planted the tree and when the attached photos were taken?  Can you relay in some way how much of a 'root ball' existed on the tree that went under ground when you planted it? This will help to confirm or eliminate potential sources of your problem  Thanks!

Edited to add a potentially useful link from the Extension office of the University of Georgia:  https://extension.uga.edu/topic-areas/fruit-vegetable-ornamentals-production/peaches.html

Hey John,

The first picture (brighter picture) was taken about 7-10 days ago. The second picture was taken tonight. I planted this peach tree on either March 31/April 1st.

I’d only be guessing on the root ball,
But I’d say 12 inches going both directions give or take an inch.

Not sure if this matters, but the soil was kind of clay like when I got deep enough to be able to lower it in. Not sure if that’s an issue. Even when I watered it a lot, the next day the top of the bed would feel dry, but an inch into the ground was moist. The previous owner of this house planted a peach tree to the other side of the front yard and it’s currently thriving.

Thanks, Benji....

Hopefully others with more knowledge on planting peaches may chime in to help.  A few thoughts...

The tree looks medium size, yet leafed out at the time of transplanting (?)....or were they just buds at the time of planting.  From memory, best times for planting are in the fall after leaf drop or in the spring before the buds have developed into leaves.  If another peach tree already is thriving in your yard, then there should be no reason why the new peach should not grow.   As we are at April 25th, it's possible that the tree is going through delayed transplant shock.  If that is the only issue, then it quite well will develop new buds for starting new leaves and branches over the coming weeks.  During this time, it's trying to get the new roots up and running and producing new root hairs for water, mineral and nutrient absorption.  So assuming there is not some disease involved....and I think it's too early to tell on that possibility....the tree may well be 'starting over' a bit and getting its juices flowing in its new home which can take some time.  Along with the leaves that dropped, some of the root system also may die away a bit as new root growth is initiated.  If/when that happens, you should be able to see new sprouting leaf buds and twig growth to replace the old material in the weeks ahead..  Again, hoping others may add observations and also don't hesitate to call a county extension agent who may be able to answer this with more local peach info.  Good luck!

John,

Thank you for the well detailed explanation on the potential causes of my tree not looking so healthy.
My relative uprooted this tree for me to replant in Georgia, so it looked extremely healthy when I packed it in the U-Haul to bring back to Georgia. There were baby peaches growing and the leaves looked lively.

He did mention the shock effect for these trees so I’m glad you mentioned that as a possibility. I decided to give it some water this morning (2 gallons or so) as the not watering for 3 days seems to be doing a disservice for the tree.

I’ll keep sharing my pictures and experiences on this board in the hopes that maybe somebody else can pitch in but also because somebody else might be having this issue as well.