We grow a lot of peaches of various types and only spray twice a year, for peach leaf curl. We irrigate in the hot summer months about 2x/week only. We do thin the fruit so each one is not touching another when ripe.

Thanks for the input. Is it your experience that peaches are thirstier than other trees? My concern is that it seems to use much more water than everything else.

Also, any ideas on the leaf spots?

I forgot to mention that they get water once a week 20 minutes from Nov-June and twice a week 15 min from July-Oct. When temps exceed 88 they get an extra 50%.

I spaced the fruit about 6" but I allowed fruit closer if they were on alternating sides of a stem (i.e., growing away from each other). Is this ok, or should I prune more fruit?

AFA the spraying goes I tend to go after everything in the edibles section early before the damage begins. The frequency is due to the very mild potency of this stuff, which is gone in a week, especially with the heavy dew we get overnight from now through June. We just get a lot of munchers here, especially caterpillars/worms/lopers. I will lay off the peach tree until I see something.

S....you have covered lots of ground. Firstly, you are doing lots of things correctly (ie being very aware and pro-active of conditions). That is the sign of a good gardener. It is commonplace to have less moisture in the rootzone than outside the rootzone. If this makes sense...the "mat" of large and small feeder roots not only sucks up the water...it is less dense and does NOT hold water as well in that area. Those spots on the leaves are no big deal...and are common to peach trees. They are very easily influenced by fungal problems. Although we have great weather in SoCal...it can be a mixed bag. Foggy conditions (like this morning) can occur for days on end. Keep in mind that peaches always bear on last year's wood. So, understand the ramifications between thinning and heading cuts...when you prune. I think you are going to be fine.

Thanks fireduck. 10a in the house!

AFA the water goes, the other trees all remain damp near the trunk, that's why I started getting concerned

AFA the spots go, I saw some pics of peach tree leaves with spots that look like mine. I don't think it's bacterial spot, it looks more like nitrogen deficiency. This is odd because it was planted late last spring in a giant hole with a ton of compost and I gave it a boost in Jan with organic liquid fertilizer (fish emulsion for the N), mycorrhizals and micro-nutes. Anyway, I just finished making some cow manure tea yesterday, so I gave it a good dose of that

PS...like FN says...I think you should thin the fruit a bit more. I know it is hard, but in the long-run you will have larger/better fruit. PS #2 Sometimes the difference in some trees being dry around the rootball originates from how they were originally planted. Bare root trees have less "matting" and "root circling" than do trees that were sold in a nursery pot that were root-bound at the time of purchase.

Thanks, I'll take a few out. Mrs Lovejoy will be crushed