[Arid_gardener] Peach Tree Question

[Olin Miller]

----- Original Message -----From: "Ellen Stobaugh" <lnrosy2000 at yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, July 02, 2007 2:11 PM
>...
> I hope everyone is doing great! We have three peach trees, one of which is
> at least 17 years old. Some years it's been pruned back a lot and some
> years not at all or very little. This spring it had a lot of small peaches
> on it, and it always looked kind of wilted. We know it was getting enough
> water because we keep an eye on the drip system. Today I went out and
> noticed that on a good part of the branches a lot of the leaves are drying
> up and turning brown. Any ideas why? The tree is a Desert Gold. Is there a
> life expectancy for peach trees? The other two trees are doing fine. One
> is a Desert Gold and the other is a Tropic Snow (white fleshed) peach
> tree.
>...
====================================================
A stone fruit tree pruned to maximize fruit production undergoes a lot of
stress and its useful life is 10-12 years.  But if it isn't pruned it may
live much longer.  In this hot weather, the leaves on many broad leaf trees
are showing stress and there isn't much one can do about it because the tree
may not be able to take up enough water.  Your problem could be either old
age or heat stress or a combination of the two.

Olin Miller, Master Gardener Volunteer
U of A Cooperative Extension, Maricopa County AZ