I bought a small peach tree last year at Lowes. Last year, it had 7 little peaches that grew pretty nice. In the last year, the tree has grown pretty rapidly compared to how tall it was when I bought it and produced a beautiful display of flowers this spring, but no peaches. Maybe the little chipmonks or ground squirrels grab them as soon as they start budding, IDK.
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1Can you add a photo please, or at least say if its growing in a pot or in the ground, where you are in the world, and whether the blossom just disappeared completely or did you see little fruitlets forming, or did the blossom shrivel on the tree... – Bamboo Jun 05 '17 at 20:32
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1Is it a dwarf, semi-dwarf, or standard? How did you get peaches the first year? Semi-dwarf fruit trees usually take a 2-3 years after the transplant to get much if any fruit. Standards usually take longer. What variety is it? – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Jun 06 '17 at 00:43
3 Answers
Any chance it froze during or shortly after the bloom? Depending on the species, most peaches are quite hardy, we have several that tolerate a 25 degree freeze quite well with only, maybe a 5 percent loss of bloom. We got wiped out several times when it went just under 25 degrees. Really need some more info though. Is this a grafted "mini" tree? When you said it grew really fast, makes me think of a graft breaking out and eventually choking off the original mini tree graft? Many times the graft is fruitless, or turns to some fruit other than the originally purchased. Usually apples? Had that happen a few times too. Then the original tree takes off like it's destined for the moon within a year. Nonetheless, without more info, I'd go with possibly an unknown frost sneaking in there? Did you only buy one tree? Store bought grafted trees are a crapshoot. I would always buy no less than two. They might, "say" they'll self-pollinate, but I've seen it play out both ways. Remember, you had those peaches once, right after you bought it, (very common) it may well have just been pollinated at the grower, or even the store, and now you have no pollinator near enough to do the job. Next year, go back to the store about a week into the bloom, snare some of the blooms off another, (or go ask a neighbor for a few small branches. Bring them home without too much jarring around, and then make contact from flower to flower on as many of your blooms as possible.)
Peaches have an extended blossom-to-fruit stage wherein, it takes all the blossoms a considerable amount of time to "come to fruition?" Hence, watch the first ones carefully next year. If you don't see some fruit coming along from the earliest ones, you'll know you don't have a self-pollinator and or, you have no pollinator nearby. Then you best get another tree, or convince your neighbor to plant one?
Also, when you do get fruit coming on, make certain to wait until they're about the size of a penny, then start pruning. Prune so there is one fruit per six inches of "leafed" branch. The more room and the more leaves per fruit - you give each peach, the bigger the peach. (Peaches are a very needy fruit on photosynthesis) NOTE: there's also a rather slim chance of a rare post-blossom blight of one sort or another, and some pestilence(s) that can "rarely" wipe out a fruit tree in blossom stage or immediately thereafter. Pretty rare though especially on a new tree. It usually occurs in areas with large orchards that had historic blights. I say this latter based only on some old timers warnings from years ago? Only seen it on an apple tree probably thirty years ago. . . Good luck!

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Perhaps pollination is the problem. Plant some plants like lavender or any fragrant plants near the peach plant. This way bees and other insects will be attracted and they will pollinate the flowers to produce fruits.
You can also try hand pollination. Usually a paint brush or a vibrating toothbrush is used for that. I hope it works for you.
There are a lot of reasons but I can give you some general guidelines that will hopefully help you. Firstly, it takes a few years for a fruit tree to bear fruits in good quantity. The first few years the fruit production will be limited. While the fruit tree is growing, regular maintenance is very important to ensure it bears fruit year after year. Basics like sufficient watering and fertilizing is important. Also, proper pruning of the tree would help it grow in a right way and be most productive. Also, when you have an abundance of fruits on a branch, you want to thin the fruits (keep 1-2 and discard the rest when they are small so as to allow the few fruits to develop to full size and not damage the branch). All this will lead to good quality and right quantity food year after year.

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