Last night I finally completed thinning on peach trees. It only took b/t 15-20 man hrs, but standing there with your arms extended, reaching all over is back breaking work. It just reinforces in my mind, why I will never use a ladder. I tried to thin off a ladder once, fortunately it was a pear didn't need much thinning. I can't imagine thinning peaches off a ladder. If your trees are too tall, cut those buggers back to a height you can reach. I have one peach tree that is really out of reach and doesn't have any low wood. I plan to replace it. I recently had this same question about thinning out smaller fruit. In other words does fruitlet size take precedent over fruit placement, when thinning? The answer is fruitlet size is more important. Early fruitlet growth results from cell division. However, late fruit swell results only from cell expansion. So by keeping the larger fruitlets at thinning, they have more fruit cells and therefore more potential to increase in size during the final fruit swell. Here's a few summary points to keep in mind about thinning: -Early thinning promotes larger fruit. -Thin fruit to approx. one per 8-10" of branch space (Thin early varieties a little heavier, and later varieties a little less.) -The fruit need not be evenly spaced. Instead keep the larger fruitlets, as long as they are not so close they'll crowd each other at harvest. In other words, if you have a 16" shoot, leave two large fruitlets somewhere where they won't crowd each other. -Get rid of any fruit in crotch angles (As it grows it will get squeezed and be hard to pick. Picture it as a 3" fruit.) -Get rid of all Siamese twins. -Get rid of at least one of all regular twins. -Thin fruit more heavily at the interior of the tree. -Get rid of all exteme low hanging fruit in the interior (It's low quality anyway.) For a little more in-depth approach at thinning, see the link below. Here is a link that might be useful: How to grow big peaches

I've had a few problems with fall planted peach trees if it is an excessively cold winter. I probably would have waited till the leaves dropped before planting, but it will probably do fine.

I usually can peaches to save freezer space for beef and pork, which we raise ourselves, but I freeze a few for cobbler and pie as Iike the texture better, canned peaches seem softer when baked into a pie, etc. I blanch the peaches, peel them and put them into a solution of water with a couple of Vitamin C tablets broken open and dissolved in. Far cheaper than Fruit Fresh and it keeps the fruit from browning. Slice them, put them into a single layer on a sheet tray and freeze. If they stick just a few minutes will allow them to thaw just enough to release. Into a ziplock bag and into the freezer, and the individual slices let me take out just enough for a smoothie for the grandkids, a small batch of turnovers, some ice cream, topping for pancakes, whatever. I never use any sugar or syrup when freezing this way and even if I'm making scones or muffins the frozen slices still are easy enough to cut into smaller chunks. I've also done as Donna states and put all filling ingredients in a ziplock bag ready for use. The only thing I do differently is that I freeze the bags right in my pie plates, so they are the right shape to just plop into my pie crust for pie or into the pan to thaw and get ready for cobbler or crisp topping. When they are frozen they can be removed from the pie plate and stacked up for later use and the pie plate goes back into the cabinet for future use. Annie

Here's a quick and easy, very versatile, yummy, fresh peach pie recipe, should you ever want to opt out of a pastry-type pie. A good sumer-friendly, keep the heat out of the kitchen, recipe. -Grainlady FRESH PEACH PIE by Karen Kramp, Ellinwood, Kansas source: The Stafford County Flour Mills Co. Cookbook, Volume 1 Crust: 1/2 c. margarine (I prefer butter.) *1 c. Hudson Cream Short Patent All-Purpose Flour, Unbleached 2 T. sugar Chopped nuts (I use pecans - LOTS) Filling: 1 c. water **1 c. sugar 3 T. cornstarch 3 T. peach gelatin (aka Jell-o powder) 2 peeled, sliced fresh peaches (depends on size of peaches) ***Additional peaches Preheat oven to 350°F. While it is warming, melt 1/2 c. of margarine in 9-inch pie pan in oven. Then add flour, and 2 T. sugar. Stir and pat in bottom of pie pan. Sprinkle some chopped nuts, as much as you desire, over top of crust, press in. Bake until light brown, 12-15 minutes. Cool. Cook water, sugar, and cornstarch until thickened. Add peach gelatin (powder). Add 2 sliced peaches to this hot mixture. Cool until lukewarm. Slice more peaches in bottom of cooled crust. Pour glaze over and refrigerate. Top with whipped cream if desired. Grainlady notes: * You can use almost any type of flour in this recipe. I have used unbleached all-purpose, wholegrain spelt, rye, whole white wheat, or a combination. **I use agave nectar instead of sugar, as a natural low-glycemic option to sugar (1/3-1/2 c. agave nectar per 1 c. sugar in filling - depending on the sweetness of the peaches). No-calorie sweeteners will also work for those who wish to avoid sugar. Personally, I think the sugar can easily be reduced by half in this recipe, especially if the peaches are really ripe and sweet. *** I usually use at least 5-6 peaches total and mix all the peaches in the filling. The amount of peaches you use is really up to you. The recipe makes a lot of filling, probably enough for 2 pies, just keep adding however many peaches you would like. - Any type of crust will work for this recipe, so if you have a favorite shortbread type, graham cracker, nut crust, no-gluten pastry or would like to use a no-gluten flour, or traditional pastry crust - any type pre-baked crust - will work fine. - This recipe works with frozen peaches, thawed, just as well as fresh peaches. - I usually make 1/2 a recipe (for the two of us) and use a small (18cm) half-size pie dish, or make individual tart pans. You can just as easily make this recipe in an 8- or 9-inch square pan, or double the ingredients for a 13x9-inch cake pan.