Peach Tree advice - central TX

[u/buttmunch3]

Hi there!

I recently started renting a house in central Texas with a lovely garden and made a deal with the owner that I'd maintain it.

There's a peach tree in the yard that is probably between 5-10 years old that looks to me like it's struggling but tree care is new to me. (Ive been reading up) I've watered it 1x/week through the month of August.

Today I decided to work on re-mulching it, since it seemed to be in a deeper pile of mulch than I realized. I exposed some of the roots and it looked like part of the base was rotting (last pic). I don't want to damage the tree, so I'm wondering what my next step should be!

TLDR: 5-10y/o peach tree appeared to be rotting at the base when I pulled mulch away from the roots. what now?

[u/buttmunch3]

also it gets full sun and it appears that the area was sheet composted with cardboard at some point

[u/ohshannoneileen]

Just lay a proper ring of !Mulch, keep it well watered & remove any suckers that pop up. It doesn't look terrible, all things considered.

You'll want to set up a dormant care routine, peaches are susceptible to many fungal issues & the only real treatment for any of them is prevention. Set a reminder in your phone for late fall when all the leaves have dropped, and you'll need to spray all of the bare branches with copper fungicide. I use Captain Jack's, because that's what I can find, and it works well. Set another reminder in your phone for very early Feb before the tree buds out again, & once again spray it with the fungicide. You have to do it every dormant season, you will save yourself a lot of headache. Once the tree is past bud break & it's too late, because the fungicide will be ineffective. It's also pretty bad for the leaves & super bad for the bees.

[u/AutoModerator → u/ohshannoneileen]

Hi /u/ohshannoneileen, AutoModerator has been summoned to provide information on the proper use of mulch.

See this excellent article from PA St. Univ. Ext. on the many benefits of mulching, and how to do it poorly by 'volcano mulching'. There are many, many examples of terrible mulching and the even worse outcomes for the trees subjected to it in the 'Tree Disasters' section of the our wiki. Mulch should be 2-3" deep and in a RING around the tree (about 6" from the tree), but not touching. It's the roots of trees that need the benefit of a layer of mulch, not the stems of trees. Mulch out as far as you're able, to the dripline or farther, like this magnificent example!

DO NOT use rubber mulch because it's essentially toxic waste (WSU, pdf) that is poisoning your soils. You should not eat the fruit from a tree where rubber mulch is in place. This product provides zero nutrients nor absolutely any benefit to your tree whatsoever, as opposed to wood based mulch which will break down into the soil and has many benefits to both your soils and the things that grow in it.

Please see this wiki for other critical planting/care tips and errors to avoid; there's sections on planting at correct depth/root flare exposure, proper mulching, watering, pruning and more that I hope will be useful to you.

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