Q.Blackening of peaches
I have a peach orchard with 9 year old trees. During the last 3 years, the peaches exhibited cracking from pole to pole of the fruit. At the opened area, the fruit becomes dark. I have tried both chemical and organic pesticide and fungus treatment with little success.
Last year a different problem arose. The fruit, not the whole fruit, developed a dark, almost black region from surface inwards. The meat does not change in texture or shows evidence of fungal activity, only the darkened regions.
If you have any suggestions as to the diseases and treaments of these two problems I would be very much greatful.
Peaches are notorious for fungas problems. Your problem could be black knot disease. Look for places on limbs with thick black dried tar looking areas. These limbs, if they exist need to be cut out. This desease usually shows up more on plum trees but can effect peaches. Please forgive me for asking but are you following a spray schedule. The best way to stop fungas and insect probems on any fruit is to spray defense sprays witha sticker every 10 days. The website above has pictures and descriptions of deseases.
