Fruit on trees shriveling up before it develops (peach, apple, pear)

Question

I can’t figure out why the fruit on my trees aren’t developing fully.

I have a few fruit trees in my back yard (peach, apple, pear) and they all used to produce good fruit. They were never really taken care of, just allowed to do their own thing and they have stopped producing any kind of good fruit.

They flower, and eventually grow a pit or bud, that ends up shriveling up and dying before it actually turns into “fruit”

I don’t have any real gardening experience but I would love to know what’s wrong with the treees so that I can fix them!

I live in Alabama, this has been a reoccurring thing for several years now (about 3-5 years) all the trees are different ages ranging from about 10-5 years.

Answer 1

This is a disease called brown rot it is very common and can be treated. Brown rot is a fungal disease that commonly affects stone-fruit trees like peaches and cherries. To treat I would start by first pruning out all signs of disease in limbs as soon as they appear and make sure to clean pruners between cuts. Then immediately dispose of prunings and other debris to avoid recontamination.NEVER try to compost you will kill everything. Next, remove and dispose of all infected fruit. Do not leave them on the ground or try to compost. Finally, you have to spray your trees use A wettable powder fungicide, a liquid concentrate fungicide, or natural copper-based fungicide spray/dust. After you are done spraying you will have to spray preventatively if brown rot is in your area.

Note:

Be sure the fungicide spray is recommended for use on the trees being sprayed (check label).

Most spray applications start at pink-bud stage in spring and are repeated as needed.

Follow instructions on the product label for specific application timing and frequency

Further reading:

https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/plpath-fru-29

https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/450/450-721/450-721.html