[Augie]

No rain in Central Missouri. The soil is starting to get quite dry. I watered my orchard trees a bit over the weekend just to be safe. My peach crop has been extremely abundant this year. The trees that I started from seed are performing far better than the high-dollar grafted trees from the nursery. Japanese beetles have been quite a scourge though. Those doggone things chew on everything. And there’s some sort of bug that lays an egg in the peach and they develop a rotten spot that quickly becomes a moldy rotten peach if left on the tree. I despise the thought of spraying chemicals on my food but it may come to that. I can’t stand losing 75% of the crop. 100% in the case of my nectarine tree. It had at least two bushel of fruit on and every single one went bad.

[Sarajevo]

I sounds like you have some property. You might consider some chickens or ducks. Mine have kept most pests at bay on my place.
I thought I was going to have a small peach crop this year, but the squirrels got them all.

Forums.gardenweb

[greeneyes]

We are having trouble with our peach trees too. They are just dying. My lemons are having an issue. By the time the turn yellow, about 1/4th has turned kinda gray and no good.

Have no idea what it is.