It is not that they are so hard to raise, but rather that the erratic spring temperatures often ruin the crop. Even when you carefully select varieties recommended for our area that have the right number of chilling hours, late freezes often either catch the trees in bloom and kill the flowers before they set fruit or they kill the young fruit. Even in a year when late freezes don't get the fruit, the fruit still have to survive our frequent severe weather which often is accompanied by hail, strong winds, etc.

In some areas there's persistent issues with plum curculio and other pests, or with various fungal diseases that can affect the fruit and/or foliage.

I grow peaches organically and never spray my trees with anything and I generally don't have pest or disease issues, but I have a lot of trouble with late freezes in my low-lying location in the Red River Valley.

I get a great crop about a third of the time, a so-so crop another third of the time and no crop another third of the time.

The prices of peaches go high in a year when the harvest is poor---it is the law of supply and demand at work. In a year when everyone gets a good crop, the prices are substantially lower.

Even with 3 sprayings of Neem oil, we lost almost 1/2 our crop to plum curculio and brown rot, substantially more than last year. Still had peaches in the freezer from last year and dried peaches in the frig, so I didn't cry too much about it. AND the peaches were dead ripe at the same time that the corn came off. Something had to give. Next year plan to use copper sulfate a time or two for the brown rot and time the Neem better--right at bloom drop, not a week later--for the curculio. I wish we could get by without spraying anything but we would get nothing if we did. And, yes, we practice good sanitation, removing the mummies and ground fall right away.

If you can find a u pick orchard they will be a little cheaper.i think my wife paid around 40$ a bushel but had to pick her own. Which is better since you can choose the peaches.

Dorothy,

If we had your usual rainfall and humidity at this end of the state, I'd likely have to spray too. Since we are usually so dry and with significantly lower RH values most years, I can get by without spraying.

In terms of pests, I have had 1 year out of 15 when they were so bad that I wish I had sprayed. Usually, though, they aren't. It may be I have some sort of beneficial insect that controls them----I have no idea what it is. I have two neighbors who raise apples within a mile of us and they have tons more pest problems with the apples than I do with peaches.

Busy1, Now that sounds like a winning idea. I need to find a u-pick place here in southcentral OK because my peaches all froze this year. I still have some preserved peaches from the last good year, though. I also have nearby friends who have late peach varieties rather than early ones and some times they unload their excess peaches on us (which I ever-so-gratefully accept!).

Dawn

I waited too late to spray my plum and peach trees. I live between catoosa and inola and tried to go green with my fruit trees and feed fungus and worms. I use a pretty severe spray routine with my trees. and do alright if the weather allows. I went to county extension and they said the heat and humidity made this area extremely difficult to go green. I was late this year trying to not harm the bees they are getting fewer all the time. but i paid a price for it