Q.growing a peach tree from seed
I have a pecah tree grown from seed. It is about 8 yrs. old but hardly produces any fruit. For the last 2 yrs, I have had about four or 5 small blossoms, which sort of turned into small fruit. In the US where it came from, the fruit was huge and very sweet and juicy and lots on the tree. It was more a big bush. I fertilise it with cow manure and it has lot of leaves but no proper fruit as yet. Should I give up and chop it down ( which I hate to) or wait for it to produce? I live in india where it is cold in winter (all leaves fall off) and very hot in summer.
You could be over pruning the tree. Peaches only produce on last years growth. To much nitrogen can cause a lot of growth, leaves and no fruit. I would not put any more nutrients on tree till it started producng fruit. Check to see that there is phosphorus in the right amounts because this nutrient is necessary for fruit buds and fruit production. Are you using a dormant lime/sulfer spray? It can kill some peach tree buds.
The problem with growing any fruit from its seed is that the fruit is likely the product of a hybrid tree. Growers usually use hardy root stock, and then graft a a better producing branch onto the top to make a better crop of fruit. If your seed came from such a union, it will not bear true, and never produce the fruit that it came from. Planting a fruit tree is so costly in terms of time, that it is wiser to buy a sapling from a reputable nursery.
