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Cornucopia - Australia

Help! My peach tree has holes in it!

19 years ago

Hi all,

A few years ago we moved to an old house which has a number of old fruit trees. One of them is a peach tree with the best biggest juiciest peaches I have ever seen! The peaches are so big that you need two hands to hold one! Unfortunately, it does not seem to be a healthy tree. its really weird shape and at some stage someone has stuck a pole into the ground near the trunk and the trunk has sort of grown around it! About half way up the trunk, where the canopy starts from, there is a BIG mass of sap. I'm sure this is not a good sign. However, my biggest worry is that holes of about 1cm wide are appearing in the trunk itself. Does any one out there know what is causing this and how I can treat it without sacrificing this year's fruit??

I really want to keep this tree for as long as possible as although it has "issues", it is a wonderful shade tree and provides us with the BEST fruit I've ever known! Please Help!

Cheryl

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Comments (4)

pepino
19 years ago
It sounds like it could be borers. Try poking some wire into the hole and see what is in there. You can try spraying with either organic or inorganic products, but a general poke will squish them.

Post this over at Ausgarden.com and I'm sure you'll get a few more responses.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ausgarden
Raymondo
19 years ago
I agree with Pepino. Sounds like it could be borers. Poking is the most effective way of getting rid of them.
Next winter, take a few dozen cuttings and see if you can get them to strike. If you are successful, the new trees should produce the same delicious fruit and the old one can eventually be chooped down. It would be a shame to lose such a wonderful tree.
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pepino
19 years ago
I've never been able to reproduce peaches from cuttings but that doesn't mean it cannot be done. I would simply sow seeds in the ground, in an appropriate spot. Peaches mostly come true to type i.e. same as parent. By sowing directly it will send a tap root down and before long, hopefully, be producing the same fruit your old tree does.
guard
19 years ago
I had the same problem with mine until I had the termite problem in a shed close by the man who came to do the inspection and spray proved it was termites in the trunk he injected the spray in the holes and the tree is now thriving but he said it is common

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