The oozing fruit tree condition called gumm is prevented by preventing soapy substances from oozing from it.

The peaches should be ripe in the next two or three weeks.We've had tons of rain in the last 10 days, after a summer of dry conditions and record breaking temperatures, and this last week it's dropped into the 50s.

I checked my peaches and came in.They're still green and nowhere near full size, but a few of them are oozing a clear gel, especially if they've been injured in some way.

I've never seen this before.Is this a disease?The peaches are kind of exploding because the tree sucked up so much of the recent rain.

If you can get the peaches past the fruit moth to the quarter-size stage, bagging them in shoe store footies is "organic".I can't spray with permethrin or OFM because it can ruin the larger peaches I want to keep.

I keep honeybees, who are not as bad for wear from my occasional applications of pesticides.

I know of no acceptable treatment that will kill the OFM.It's possible that you have an OFM on your peaches because you aren't spraying after petal fall.To prevent the OFM hatch cycle from continuing, you should always remove and discard peaches that fall from the tree.

The oriental fruit moth has visited your peaches.The oozing of pectin makes it easy to see the damage that probably occurred some time ago.The affected peaches will be seriously deteriorated around the pit area, and some may be present, if you take them down.

I'm not sure how long you've been growing peaches or the severity of OFM pressures in Colorado.In my area of Northern Virginia OFM is always present.I either have to spray in a timely manner, beginning at the fruit thinning stage, or bag the peaches in shoe store "footies".In a given year, I would expect OFM pressure to be less in Colorado, but it could be worse.

It's possible that this is the reason why a few of the newly developed peaches shriveled on the vine when they were barely dime sized.I've only owned this place for a couple years, but I have never seen that before.

That is very disappointing.I was anticipating peach pie.Is it possible to use an organic treatment next year?I don't want to endanger honeybees.I had a beeswarm in my peach tree a couple months ago.

Hmm.Do you throw them away or compost them?I'm having second thoughts about tossing them into the compost bin.

A lot of the oozing comes from an injury to the fruit.I thought it was just a twig sticking them when the wind blows them around, but in retrospect I think it's the insect entry point.

I didn't thin this year.The squirrel and the fruit were enough to thin them out.A lot of the peaches are out of my reach, even with a ladder, so I couldn't bag them.Where do you buy footwear?

Store Supply Warehouse is where most of us who use footies on peaches buy them.Search for them.The ladies size is more important than the men's.

I can think of a few ways to grow peaches next season.The first thing to do is to trim the tree down to a height you can reach from your ladder, then pick the best young fruitlets and thin them off until they are at least 8 inches apart on the twigs and branches.Before the insects reach the peaches, bag them.

You can either leave the tree and bag as many as you can reach, or write off all those peaches you cannot.I would prefer option #1, but it does involve some trimming.If you want to grow peach trees as landscape specimen, you need to keep them under control.

I had a peach tree when I bought the house.I'll get to that someday, and any heavyPruning would probably have to be done by a professional.Some of my trees need to be trimmed.

I will bag the ones I can get and let the rest go next year.I use my long fruit grabber to get some of the high up peaches.I wouldn't be able to carry them.I will have to write them off if the bugs get them.I might be able to get a lot that the bugs haven't gotten to.