Knowledgebase

Spots on peaches #765674

Asked August 04, 2021, 11:08 AM EDT

Hi! I have a peach tree that is very healthy and producing lots of peaches. (The weight of the peaches did cause a branch to snap in the picture attached). Recently, the peaches started developing small spots on them. There are no lesions on the leaves or branches. We have been spraying for fungal Diseases but the last spray was 2 weeks ago. What is this and what can be done to treat it? Will the peaches still be harvestable?

Frederick County Maryland

Expert Response

Thanks for submitting your question and photos. Unfortunately, the photo is not clear enough for me to tell if the spots are caused by a disease or insect pest.  The foliage/fruit in the photo look very healthy. 

Peach Tree Diseases can be found at this link: https://extension.umd.edu/resource/peach-and-cherry-diseases

Your peach symptoms look similar to scab, but with applying the fungicide, it shouldn't be that.  When did you start making the fungicide applications?   It's possible that the fruit were infected prior to your first application.  Is all of the fruit affected?  It could possibly be bacterial spot, since the lesions look sunken, but most of the time this shows up on the leaves too.  The other possible cause is Coryneum Blight. 

Insect pests can be found here: https://extension.umd.edu/resource/peach-and-cherry-insect-pests

Usually, the peach would be oozing if the damage is from an insect pest.  

I would recommend cutting/pealing one of the peaches to see how deep the damage is.  Hopefully, it is just superficial (scab) on the skin and you will still be able to harvest and use the fruit. 

As with all fruit trees, pruning is important and applying fungicides at proper times based on different stages of growth can help achieve a good harvest of quality fruit. 

Reach out with additional photos or questions.  Good luck - Ashley

Loading ...