Peach tree no flowers, no fruit

I posted this some months back, and the consensus was that it was an ornamental peach tree that doesn't flower or fruit.

Now I've been working over there clearing out weeds and planting some flowers under the tree, and I have found peach pits. So at some point the tree did have peaches.

So what's wrong with the tree? It looks quite healthy. I don't know how old it is, but it's definitely a mature tree (as in grown up, not as in old).

most peaches are self fertile and just need a pollinator. then some like mine need a mate

your just might not of got pollinted and you might need to pollinate it.


also some ornamental peaches are edible and do produce flowers. double jewel is one.

i am gonna ask this anyway is it getting enough cold spell during the winter?? regular peaches need cold.

a great read on peaches is below.
http://gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg_diary/fruit_veg_mini_project_november_2_peach.asp

We had a bitter cold snap last winter. Temps down to 20 below. But often Colorado does have mild weather during winter.

How do I pollinate it? I've only the one peach tree. (Should I plant another?) And I've no lack of bees and wasps out there.

Squirrels.....Maybe ?????? This is a problem that I have with our peach tree!

If it does not bloom, you don't have a pollination problem yet. Peaches store up energy in the summer , which translate into blooms in the early spring. Should the tree suffer undue stress in the late summer no blooms in the spring as the tree is diverting its energy to surviving. The chill factor should not be a problem in Colorado. That 20 below, particularly if it occurred after a warm spell could have killed the buds also.

Farmerdill,
Would tree stress go for apples too, or are peaches just touchier? I have a Stark 2/1 delicious apple. One of the grafts died. I had blossoms last year and the early frost took them. I had no blossoms this year, so I still don't know which graft survived.

I planted it in 2000. Semi dwarf.
In 2002 the whole center never leafed out.
In 2003, only one branch leafed out and I noticed another split in the trunk. (Frostcrack I think.)
In 2004 half the tree lived.
In 2005 the late frost took the blossoms. This year it's all leafed out, the frostcrack is healing, but no blossoms.
Putting it all down, I see the tree was pretty stressed.

Stress happens to any plant, some are more vigourous than others. There are some varieties of apples which tend to bear on alternate years also.

I'm hoping it has itself healed by next year, poor thing!

20 below F will kill flower buds on all the peaches I know. Even here in zone 6 you only have to go to the colder spots to find places where the trees fail to produce after we get -10 F.

The 20 below didn't happen in spring. I think it was in January. Would that still kill the buds? I didn't think buds started coming out until the beginning of March at the earliest.

But then, I only just recently became a fruit tree owner.

The minimum temperature tolerated by most fruit trees is not the only criteria. For instance, if you have a warm fall and then a couple of very cold nights of -5F, much injury could result. At the same time, a long period of gradual cooling followed by -5F might not hurt the bloom at all. At any rate, severe peach production reduction occurs at about -10F, no matter how gradual the descent to that temp. Any single night of -20F will greatly affect spring bloom, maybe all but eliminate it. The pits come from years when the stars will align just right. We had a series of years in the late 80's when peach crop failure was common. With milder winters has come consistantly good peach production here in Penn.

When the stars align? Seriously?

When the mooooooon is in the Second House...

And Jupiter ali-igns with Mars.

(Sorry. Couldn't help it. And yes, I know I'm showing my age here. :-) )

I'm on the edge of that age!

Hi - Maybe you already know this, if not - here goes.

We have peach trees that no longer bear fruit, but are still pretty
in the summertime. The man who cuts the grass here grew up
on a peach orchard. He said that peach trees stop fruiting after
about 10 - 12 years, even if they are healthy. What they do in the
orchard is cut the trees down and plant others in their place.

In order to have a continuous crop, there are always trees in different
stages of growth. He said that all orchards do this. Your tree may
just be too old to produce anymore. Hope this helps.

We still get quite a few blossoms in the Spring, but only about
a handfull of peaches that never mature.

I have had portions of peach trees mature and die out, but they often send up a new tree from the trunk. Anyway, I would suggest pruning a tree that doesn't bloom to get new limbs and life started growing.[after it fails to bloom in the spring]

I have considered -14°F a cutoff point for most peaches. You will only get a few fruits or none.