Q: My peach tree has hundreds of peaches not quite the size of tennis balls. The problem is half of the skin is perfect but the other half is sprinkled with black pepper-like spots.

A: You need to do a better job thinning the fruit…you should have one fruit every six inches on a branch, no closer.

This will increase air circulation and help prevent the “speckled” disease, called peach scab.

Captan is a good fungicide for scab control, as is chlorothalonil.

You should also remove all fallen leaves, fruit and twigs under the tree each winter