peach tree care for a year old spout from a self-germination.

Question

My tree, Mr. Peach, was the only one to make it through germination out of 30 seeds. He has grown well for the last year but started to lose leaves. I noticed he had lots of gnats. He even has bark forming at the base and a very green trunk. I transplanted to a larger pot and added 1 inch of play sand, at the direction of a local nursery, to suffocate the adult gnats. He has done well for the last month but now I notice gnats again, he has lost all leaves and the top of his stem is starting to turn brown. He still has bark and green for the most part. I decided to start over and dump all soil, rinse out the pot and give him a root soak to get rid of all the bad dirt. When doing this, the old soil had worms, gnat babies and stunk to high heaven. He is now in a new pot of fresh potting soil. What did I do wrong and can I do anything now? Mr. Peach has no leaves but is still strong. I think he is a fighter, lol.

Answer 1

The container looks large for the size stem that you have. A container that is too large can easily hold too much moisture overwhelm the small root structure.

I might suggest a much smaller nursery pot until the seedling reaches a larger size. Also make sure you have your seedling in full sunlight.