Hi Jeff, IÂm not an expert but it looks like the tree and the graft and the rootstock have a good chance of pulling through. However there is some added risk to pests do to the damage caused do to its past improper planting. I would paint the tree white to help protect it from the sun down to the ground with an interior flat latex paint in a 50% paint 50% water mix. If possible I would also clear away the grass and put up either a wood or brick border and mulch it so the tree will not have to compete with the grass for nutrients.

My guess is you will get some fruit this year. Once the fruit is ¾-1" you will need to thin the fruit so that they are space roughly 4" apart.

Just my .02 cents.

I would rip that one out and plant a new peach tree. They are fast growing and fast to set fruit. Home Depot, Lowes and all of the local nurseries are fully stocked with bare root trees right now. If you plant one this year, you might have fruit next year. All of my fruit trees (peaches, plums, cherries, apricotts) that were planted bare root fruited the following year.

Thanks for both your inputs. It is definately a hard decision. I know ultimately it may be better just to uproot this one, but then the flowers are offering me hope.

Ahh... so difficult. Does anyone know otherwise from past experiences with similar situations?

Thanks.

Jeff:

As I understand what you did, you initially planted the tree with the graft union buried beneath the soil, then lately dug the whole thing up and reset the tree highter, with the graft union a couple of inches above the soil line. This is to tell you that burying the graft union probably had no negative effect, by itself, on the health of the rootstock or the scion above it. If anything, a buried scion is prone to root itself.

I think your rootstock is suffering from nematodes or some disease endemic to your area which keeps your tree just hanging on by its fingernails, so to speak. Even if the tree you planted is on some exotic dwarfing rootstock, your tree bears no resemblance to a healthy peach tree that has been growing for 13 years. It may have a few blossom buds, but I don't see any future for it, and any fruit that such a sick tree would set would be of poor quality. Perhaps the tree has been suffering from some neglect, lack of water, mulch, grass growing around it etc., but the major problem is a very sick rootstock.

It wouldn't be a hard decision for me. I would take that tree out pronto, and plant a new one in a different location this spring. It may be wrenching to pull out a tree you planted when you were 10, but don't wait until you are 33. Nostalgia is not what it used to be.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA