Initial Peach Harvest

I have been watching the peaches on my trees. I don't remember the names of the varieties I planted (except for China Pearl, but this entry is not about them). I have six trees and three varieties, all free stone. Last year, I had very few peaches and those that did develop had black blotches and a lot of worms and other pests. So, this year, I decided that I needed to spray. I don't know why, but I had a lot of peaches develop. Jenna and I reduced the number by about a third a month and a half ago. I've heard that you need to thin the fruit, which drove this. Then, I sprayed. The product I bought said to spray no more often that every 11 days, to spray no more than 3 times, and to not spray 21 days before harvest. I have only sprayed twice so far.

I went to check the fruit last evening and pick one off the ground that looked good. Another truism, "When the fruit is ripe, it will fall." There was a worm in it. As I inspected the other fruit, I saw some that had developed some sort of a fungus, suggesting it might be over-ripe or that there was something that was about to spread. There weren't too many fruits that were like this, but enough that I decided to harvest this morning. (I've got a dental cleaning appointment, so I had some time.) So, I harvested the two trees that were ready to go. I suspect these peaches may need a day or so to further ripen; they seemed a bit hard. It's not a great harvest, but it will surely be sufficient for our current needs and resources. I'm not sure what to do with the peaches yet. I've canned before, but there are other things to do, like peach jam. Of course, just eating some is most interesting. The birds were starting (just starting) to pick some of the top fruit. (I ate one of these for breakfast.)

The peaches are small, but there are no black blotches this year. I'm not sure that I know at all what I am doing. Because the other two varieties are still very green, I gave them their last shot of spray. I also sprayed the apples and pears. They had the same blotches last year and a lot of worms.