Matthew Stevens: Great-tasting peaches can be tough to grow but worth a try

Peaches are one of my favorite fruits to eat during the summer. It’s really hard to beat the flavor of a fresh peach picked just that day, but growing peaches is unfortunately not as easy as one would hope, due to a variety of disease and insect problems, as well as a danger of ill-timed frosts reducing yield.

Peaches are native to China but have been grown in the Southeastern United States since the early 1900s. Like most fruit trees, they are normally grafted to ensure consistent quality. Trees developed from seedlings generally produce lower quality fruit.

Peaches need eight or more hours of daily sunlight, protection from late spring frost, and regular pruning to produce fruit. Avoid planting near the edge of a wooded area or at the bottom of a hill, as these areas carry an increased risk of frost injury.

Peach trees grow best when trained to grow in a vase shape. Young trees have their central trunk pruned off early, leaving the tree with 3-4 strong lateral limbs, and an open center allowing for ample sun penetration. Yearly winter pruning helps maintain the open center.

Once the tree is mature enough to produce large amounts of fruit, it is a good idea to thin the fruit each year. Fruit thinning means removing some of the flowers or young fruit early in the season to lesson the total number of fruit produced, but increase the size and quality of those that do mature.

Mature peach trees often face the problem of branches bending or breaking due to heavy fruit load. Thinning helps reduce this problem, and also helps limit disease problems by creating more space between fruits. A properly thinned tree should have peaches growing about 6 inches apart on the stem.

Those who wish to grow peach trees also face the risk of some disease and insect pests. Brown rot is a common disease of peaches and like the name implies, causes peaches to rot and turn brown before they reach maturity. Fungicide applications during and after bloom can help reduce this disease, but it is also a good idea to remove damaged fruit from the tree and the ground around it in order to minimize spread of the disease.

Insect pests include plum curculio, oriental fruit moth, and peach tree borer, of which peach tree borer is the most damaging. The insect bores into the stem, causing an orange-brown gel to accumulate around the trunk. Peach tree borers often affect trees that are already stressed, making it difficult to control.

Because of these issues, life expectancy of a peach tree is somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-20 years. Growing good peaches is not easy, but the reward a well cared for tree provides is tough to beat.