June fruit drop, which sometimes happens at the end of May in NJ, is the natural occurrence for some trees like peach, plum and apple to drop immature fruit. But that doesn’t make it any easier to experience. Watching dozens of your precious peaches or apples fall to the ground before they ever grow up can be unsettling until you realize it is healthy for the tree.
Remember the plethora of flowers on your peach tree in April? Fruit trees will set many more flowers than needed for a full crop. If each and every flower became a fruit, the tree would not be able to bear the load. Did you also notice that some of the flowers fell to the ground? Most likely, those were unpollinated flowers. The flower drop was the first, almost unnoticeable, shedding of your fruit tree.
Take a look at the fruit that has fallen to the ground. You may notice that the less desirable immature fruit has been shed. This is good. Your fruit tree is shedding the fruit that might not mature while preserving the fruit that will thrive. Think of it this way. Your fruit tree wants to reproduce by setting healthy fruit with healthy seed. The tree will hold onto its strongest specimens in order to create the best possible fruit tree offspring. June fruit drop is also saving you the time and work of thinning your fruit, although for some fruit trees like peach, plum, nectarine and apricot, further thinning may be needed.
When June fruit drop happens, your tree is telling you it is healthy. Simply clean up the dropped fruit and compost or toss in the garbage if you have experienced any past fruit tree diseases or insect issues. To keep your fruit tree healthy during the growing season, make sure it is getting enough water, check for early stages of insects or disease, and give your tree a good mulching. A three-inch layer of mulch, keeping the mulch away from the base of the tree, will help regulate soil temperature, and conserve soil moisture.
Spring 2020 update: This past April, most of New Jersey experienced three late-in-the-season freezes. This caused fruit tree blossoms to freeze three times during and slightly after flowering time. The results are less fruit maturing on the tree than is normally seen this time of year. With June fruit drop in full swing, it will be interesting to see how our fruit tree crops do this summer. Stay tuned for the August harvest report!
