Peach Trees – Pepper spots on Fruit

Q: My peach tree has hundreds of peaches not quite the size of tennis balls. The problem is half of the skin is perfect but the other half is sprinkled with black pepper-like spots.

I began spraying the trees after the blossoms fell every 14 days with a fruit tree spray containing Captan. What should I do?

A: You need to do a better job thinning the fruit…you should have one fruit every six inches on a branch, no closer.

This will increase air circulation and help prevent the “speckled” disease, called peach scab.

Captan is a good fungicide for scab control, as is chlorothalonil.

You should also remove all fallen leaves, fruit and twigs under the tree each winter

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