Joni, now is the time to act. First thing is to get the fungicides going; start with a liquid copper/dormant oil mix at this time, and after the tree blooms spray with captan. Those two actions will get you into the cycle of treating your tree, but must be followed up with a succession of treatments that you can find on the extension service's website. I recommend digging out the soft wood and eggs; discard. Peaches need to be thinned to about one every eight inches. This will take stress off the limbs and give you nicer fruit. Do this when the peachlets are about the size of a pea or marble. Even so, if your limbs are loaded with big, juicy queens, you will need to prop up the limbs for support. You should have a nice harvest this year if you follow these steps. Good luck. Misterbaby.

Drew- My soil is clayish, and is heavy but I get good run off (when it does rain) from the trenches that I have dug on both sides of trees. Kind of a terrace style so water logging has not been an issue. I will pull mulch back from the trees in our little rainy season. Here we have not gotten any rain in months. I have set up drip systems for all my trees but the older ones (like the tree in question) barely get watered. I have watered maybe 4 times this season (Since them breaking dormancy). They are covered in a 4-6" layer of horse manure and wood chips. Just dug down in the soil a couple of days ago to make sure there was still moisture and there was plenty. Our land was horse property so that is why I was thinking maybe high phosphates maybe the cause but wouldn't the other trees show similar stress? I have also not fertilized except for the horse manure that I put around the trees in the spring but again wouldn't this also affect the others as well? I would also figure that this tree would be on Nemaguard or Lovell rootstock coming from HD. I have many other trees on those rootstocks closely planted that received the same level of care. I should also mention that I see no signs of pests, canker or wood disease on the tree. There is some discoloration on the branches shown in the pics (Yellowing and spots similar to the leaves). I am stumped as to why this is happening again. I thought last years problem was over when it leafed out this year and looked great (I even had to summer prune). Could the pruning have anything to do with it? I didn't prune harshly just cleaned up the middle and cut back size by about 2 feet. Would a soil test be worth it? Fertilize like Gator mentioned and see what happens? This pic is a tree 15' from it on Nemaguard in its 2nd summer.

I use Myclo with Captan a lot as is the Cornell rec to delay resistance issues with Myclo and because Cap spreads to new growth during light rain. 3 sprays of myclo will absolutely control CAR in my experience at scores of sites with hundreds of varieties over the last 20 years. Often I have relied entirely on myclo for scab and CAR control. Many sites I only use a petal fall and first cover fungicide spray and have never seen bad CAR damage on fruit- at most a few specks on foliage that is harmless. But, of course, timing is everything and I can only speak for conditions in the 2 states (NY and CT) and 2-3 zones where I've managed orchards. I also have a more powerful sprayer than most home growers so it's easy for me to get good coverage. Here's my sched, if you are interested. REPRINT PERMISSION FROM ALAN HAIGH REQUIRED ________________________________________ Low Spray Schedule for Home Orchards in the Northeast Here's my spray schedule for the scores of orchards I manage around SE NY adapted for home owners managing a few fruit trees. It has functioned well for me for over 2 decades, although J. Beetles and brown rot of stone fruit increases the number of sprays and necessary pesticides some years some sites. Stink bugs are also an increasing problem requiring more subsequent sprays when they appear. Time of spray is based on apple bloom as that is the predominant fruit here but I generally get away with spraying all trees at the time I spray apples. Please note that pesticide labels must be read before their use and my recommendations do not override the rules on the label. The label is the law. This document only communicates what has worked for me and your results may vary depending on local pest pressure, which may require a different spray schedule. Spray needs to be applied thoroughly throughout the trees and with a back pack or any human powered sprayer this is more easily accomplished in the morning before breezes usually pick up. Dormant oil (this is optional if there were no mites or scale issues the previous season, which is usually the case in home orchards). Do oil spray from when emerging green shoots are 1/2" to just before the flower clusters begin to show a lot of pink. Mix Immunox (myclobutinol) at highest legal rate (listed on label for controlling scab and cedar apple rust on apple trees) with 1 to 2% oil( 1 to 2 quarts per 25 gallons of water). If it's closer to pink use 1%. Never spray oil on open or almost open flowers. Don't spray again until petal fall when petals have mostly gone from latest flowering varieties and bees have lost interest. Then spray Triazide (Spectracide Once and Done) + Immunox mixed together at highest legal rates. Repeat once in 10 to 14 days. Where I manage orchards, the space between earliest flowering Japanese plums and latest flowering apples is only 2 weeks or so which usually allows me to wait until the latest flowering trees are ready to begin spraying anything. Plum curculio seems to time its appearance conveniently to the rhythm of the last flowering apple varieties. This may not be true where you are. If plums or peaches need oil they may need application before apples. I’ve only had mites on European plums here and never need oil for other stone fruit. All this is based on plum curculio being your primary insect problem which is the case most areas east of the Mis. River. These sprays will also absolutely control scab, CAR and Mildew as well as most of the crop fatal insects. Apple fly maggot is an exception as it tends to emerge a couple of weeks after last spray looses effectiveness, but I haven't had much of a problem with this pest in the orchards I manage. This pest can be controlled with a lot of fake apples smeared with tangle trap. If you don't want to use synthetic chemicals try 4 applications of Surround about a week apart starting at petal fall. You may need to start on earlier flowering varieties as soon as they drop petals because Surround is a repellent and can’t kill eggs after they’ve been inserted into the fruit. When temperatures permit it is good to mix horticultural oil with 2 or those applications as Surround makes a nice home for mites and scale. Stone fruit may require the addition of an application or 2 of Indar (Monterey Fungus Fighter is closest available chemical for home growers) starting 4 weeks before first peaches ripen. Apricots must be sprayed sooner if they are scab susceptible with same compound. On some sites that single spray will also prevent serious rot on later ripening varieties on seasons not particularly wet. If it is wet spray the later varieties again two weeks later. Because I manage so many orchards so far apart I have to resort to a spray schedule that is based on expectations rather than actual monitoring. You may be able to reduce insecticide sprays with monitoring but PC can enter an orchard overnight and if your insecticide lacks kick-back (as is the case with Triazide), do a lot of damage in a couple of days. Other problems may occur later in the season and you will in time learn to monitor and react to the pitfalls. Good luck, Alan Haigh- The Home Orchard and Nursery Co.

Yeah I think you're right about the white; looked again today and it was gone. The scale on the last plant if there is subtle, but how about the numerous non-subtle brown spots, some of which look eaten into the leaf? Some kind of mite? If so, here's the combo I've come up with: Acephate - Amazon: "97UP 1lb bag Generic Orthene Insect & Fire Ant Killer" - http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05507.html says "Insecticide with some effectiveness against spider mites. Systemic." Forbid 4F - eBay: "Free Forbid 4F Miticide Spiromesifen 1/4 OZ free gift when u purchase 3 pipettes" - "Like Avid, it is translaminar. The active ingredient, spiromesifin, while not systemic (i.e., it does not move through the plant’s vascular system like, for example, Merit does), is absorbed by the plant’s leaves and will move from the tops of the leaves to the bottoms where the mites feed." A lot of the more mainstream systemic products use Imidacloprid, and while they don't claim to work against mites, they also don't mention that one reason that spider mites become a problem is insecticides [such as Imidacloprid] that kill their natural predators.