Q: Every year my peaches are covered by little black spots. I have golf ball sized fruit now and it is beginning again. What should I do?

A: The better question might be “What should I have done?” Peach scab is a fungal disease that infects when the fruit first appears. Some varieties of peach are slightly resistant to the disease but yours does not seem to be one of them.

Thin your fruit in May to leave 6″ between each fruit. This will make them larger and better able to resist the fungus. Pick up all fruit you thin out and all fruit that falls from the tree and dispose of them away from the tree.

Next year, when buds begin to swell, begin spraying any fungicide labeled for disease control on fruit trees.