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Mon, Feb 11, 13 at 15:33
| I will start by saying I know nothing about peach trees.....I planted 7 bareroot trees last winter and have been absolutely amazed with the speed of their growth. From dime and nickel size trunks to a year later the biggest trunk is larger than a tennis ball with a canopy 10 feet across. They are just covered currently in blooms and the earliest type already has quarter size peaches on it. The trees have some pretty big limbs that are growing up through the middle of the tree that I know must go....my question is do I leave them and let them produce fruit then prune them? Or should I take them off now? I want to try summer pruning the trees. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by harvestman 6 (My Page) on Mon, Feb 11, 13 at 16:17
| Take them off now and open the trees up. You'll still get plenty of fruit on remaining trees and you need to get a handle on them ASAP if they are growing that rapidly. Maximum of 4 scaffolds is all you need- I like just 3. |
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- Posted by bamboo_rabbit 9A Inverness FL (My Page) on Mon, Feb 11, 13 at 20:10
| Thanks for the reply. I picked my scaffolds at planting but then did not prune again all summer as I was told the tree needed all the leaves it could get. The upright limbs came off the scaffolds near their base. I will remove them. |
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- Posted by harvestman 6 (My Page) on Mon, Feb 11, 13 at 21:18
| Main thing is to keep enough sun hitting the interior of the scaffolds that new wood is generated along the entire length of them and you don't end up with a doughnut affect of empty wood on the interior after a couple or few years. Summer pruning of most aggressive uprights is extremely helpful for this purpose. |
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- Posted by yukkuri_kame 9 (My Page) on Tue, Feb 12, 13 at 0:08
| If you lived up north, maybe you'd need more leaves on the tree, but you're in FL, so I wouldn't worry about it. The growing season is long enough, and there is plenty of rain and sun for those trees to grow like gangbusters. Fruiting wood is usually about pencil thickness, and you can even trim that by up to 50%, in order to thin the crop in advance. Typically people aim for a goblet or funnel shape, with an open center. |
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- Posted by bamboo_rabbit 9A Inverness FL (My Page) on Tue, Feb 12, 13 at 8:02
| Well I am sure I am going to screw it up as part of the learning process but on the plus side peach trees don't live that long:) |
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- Posted by gator_rider2 z8 Ga. (My Page) on Tue, Feb 12, 13 at 9:55
| Your tree at age to take work glove rub off all buds fruit on top side limbs ones leave form peaches on outside limb this load pull limbs down by weight fruit this spread Tree. And later outside bud grow outward before turn upward that give more spreading. The above good way thin crop thinning crop on outside limb be easy thinning. I like 8 foot prune up and to sides this give total 16 foot spread over 8 ft. limbs load to heavy and some brake. Nematodes like peach tree roots. |
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