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Fruit & Orchards

Newly planted dwarf Red Haven Peach with yellow leaves

9 years ago

We just planted a dwarf Red Haven peach a couple weeks ago. Our soil has a lot of clay but we added quite bit of compost when we started planting in the area where the tree is located.

I have noticed quite a few leaves are turning yellow and fall off at the slightest touch.

What are the possible causes for this and is there anything I can do to fix it?

This post was edited by kestrel_3 on Sun, May 25, 14 at 9:52

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Comments (7)

curtis
9 years ago
Not a lot to work with here. Its not the soil. What is your watering schedule? One thing that happens frequently is tree drowning. So you dig a hole and put the tree in it. then you put the soil back, plus maybe some compost. If the tree was potted you have that soft potting soil. So when you water, the hole take in the water very easily, but the surrounding soil, and soil under your hole do not. Therefore water sits in the hole conttaining your tree like a bow,l making your softer soil a big glob of mud which smothers the roots.

If it is this, clear any mulch from around the tree so the sun can help try to dry it out, it's race to get it drier before the tree dies. I predict you will loose that race (if it's the problem) So if you bought it at a local nursury they probably have a replacement guarantee. don't wait to long to give in and use that. The longer you take to get the new tree in the ground, the more it will be stressed by heat.
kestrel_3
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you for your thoughts. I added a picture to the original post and another one here if that might help a bit. (not sure how to add more than one picture per post)
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Thanks for the short review. My choice of Red Globe as it was mentioned as good by fruitnut. And also a local Nursery which makes the top 5 for hardy fruit trees is Grandpa's. It's a "Grandpa's Choice" there Although it is mentioned it is susceptible to bacterial spot and frost tender. It must have a really good flavor for Grandpa to still suggest it. His other choices are Redhaven and O'Henry. So 3 out of all the peaches they sell., which this year is 24 cultivars. So it's not my experience. I developed a list of good candidates for my yard and all three are on it. Now Redhaven and O'Henry will make it in my yard first. Redhaven because it was developed here, and is a really decent peach. O'Henry for it's exceptional taste. it does have some problems. But really what cultivar is perfect? Both are old cultivars reviewed many times all over the place. I believe Scott mentions it is was of his best (O'Henry). Redhaven is one of the better Michigan cultivars, I have to have it. Again too first come peaches that work here, then one that should work here but untested, then experimental. So peaches suggested by a top 5 nursery that is in MI, have huge weight on my list. My choice on Redskin was based your review and also a review from a radio interview I heard. The grower was an author, and mentioned the cultivar as being very good. I can't remember who the writer was though? Maybe Lee Reich? Anyway I think with any I mentioned Mrs.G would be happy. I would base choice on ripening time compared to what she has. So mentioned a few. I can mention more, but know less about them, but still on my list. Winblo, Carmen, Carolina Gold, and Clayton would be excellent choices too. Speaking of grafting my Indian free looks like it has a canker. I removed canker, but the tree may develop more so I took a couple scions to try my hand at grafting. I may spread the canker, I took it off a clean scaffold, and it doesn't matter anyway. I'm moving and will have to start over in 3 years. these are all experiments at this point so another reason to graft. to practice, and to experiment. I'm putting the scions on Arctic Glo Nectarine. or Lucky 13. I'm not sure what kind of graft to use? But have a lot of time to figure that out. I'm going to practice graft cutting on my maple tree. See if I can get good cuts, or at least practice my cuts on scrape wood first.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
transplant shock .. water properly ...

IMHO.. disease simply doenst not work that fast ...

the experts.. would have planted a dormant.. leafless tree ... sometime in april or so .... to avoid the shock to the leaves ...

the true tree peeps would have suggested not to amend a planting hole.. and to plant high in regard to BAD clay ... does your clay PERK???? ... drainage is very important to trees ... and if you palnt a tree in a clay cauldron.. that does not drain then problems can happen ... adding a high water retention soil to this type of hole.. might only make it worse ...

with the transplant .... you interrupted the root mass's ability to support the leaves on the plant ... ergo.. some of them are being sacrificed for the greater whole... not a big deal .. unless they all fall off ... and even then... if properly watered ... and you dont kill the root mass... most trees can releaf ... not the best thing to happen ... but not the end of the road ...

i will go back to the tree forum now... lol

ken
gator_rider2
9 years ago
Don't worry about those yellow leaves on that tree Peach do same every year. The older are larger leaves one to watch for problems yours look great.
kestrel_3
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for the insight.

Nope, I am definitely not an expert. This is my first fruit tree ever. My kids and husband got this tree for me for Mother's Day so although I guess it should have been planted earlier...it was planted when I got it.

We added to the soil because my husband had to dig up a bunch of weeds and grass in the bed where we were planting this trees and some other bushes.

It has actually been a pretty decent Spring here. No crazy torrential downpours but some nice steady rains spaced out. My husband watered a couple times in between but not very heavily.

There is no mulch around the tree.

I am not sure if the clay perks and not sure how to test that. I could probably make some pottery from the soil though. :)
We just moved here a year ago so growing things in this soil is different for me. We didn't have as much clay up north as we do here.

Thanks again.
needinfo001
9 years ago
is the tree doing o now?
appleseed70
9 years ago
Kestrel...drainage is of paramount importance as everyone here has mentioned.
I don't think that is your problem, in fact, I don't even think you have a problem. My Hale Haven does this every single year since it was planted, and it most certainly does not have any drainage issue whatsoever as there is almost zero clay content here and the tree has awesome drainage. I don't see any indication of any common peach tree issues either. You just planted it, so give it an opportunity to acclimate itself.
In the future however be mindful of what these folks have said regarding the bathtub effect of adding compost/potting soil to plantings in heavy clay though.
The best peach I've ever eaten was a Red Haven, and is/was the most widely planted peach in the USA. There is a reason for that.
It is however susceptible to bacterial spot, something that runs rampant in our zone. Really though, peaches in general offer little in the way of disease resistance anyway, so I think your family made a good choice and with a little luck will be a nice tree for you.

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