On Friday, I sprayed my peach and nectarine trees to control peach leaf curl. I also sprayed them in late December. I have been spraying my peach tree twice each winter while the tree is dormant since I planted it back in 2002.
I have heard people coming into our local nursery complaining about peach leaf curl in the spring. Unfortunately, it is too late to spray then. The spray needs to be applied at least once while the tree is dormant. I typically spray twice. In very wet years, I spray three times.
Now is the time to spray peach and nectarine trees to control the leaf curl fungus. I have read that the most important time to spray is just as the buds are beginning to swell, and before the blossoms open up. With all of the warm weather we have been having in the past month (today the high temperate neared 70 degrees again), the buds on my white nectarine tree are staring to swell (see above picture). I expect it to bloom before the end of February.
February 01 2009 | Peaches/Nectarines | Comments Off on Spraying Peach/Nectarine Trees to Prevent Leaf Curl
Yesterday, I pruned our peach tree. I prune our peach tree every winter to keep it small and manageable. Our tree is a small 7 year old tree. It only took about 20 minutes to prune.
Last summer, our tree grew vigorously, but some of the newly grown branches were long and weak. I trimmed those branches to prevent them from breaking next summer under the weight of the fruit.
I also cut off all of the high branches above about 10 feet, so that the tree will not develop fruit that is difficult to reach on high branches. I also cut off all of the branches that were sagging down and branches that were crossing or touching other branches. In general, I try to cut off enough branches to keep the tree in a small compact shape.
Recently, I bought a book entitled “How to Prune Fruit Trees” by R. Sanford Martin. This book provides specific details on how home growers should prune fruit trees. According to the book, different techniques should be used when pruning each particular type of fruit tree. For example, peach trees require different pruning techniques than pear trees. I didn’t know that until I read this book. I used to think that the same pruning technique could be applied to all types of fruit trees.
According to this book, ideal pruning techniques require much more attention to detail and the particular type of fruit tree being pruned. The book covers specific pruning techniques for a few dozen different varieties of fruit trees and bushes.
Peach trees develop all of their fruit on new branches that grew during the previous summer. Also, as I have discovered, peach trees tend to set a large number of small sized fruits.
Different sources suggest different techniques for forcing a peach tree to develop a small number of peaches that are large in size. Some sources advise cutting off a portion of the length of each of the new branches and twigs that grew during the previous summer. Cutting off a portion of each new branch will transfer the tree’s energy into the remaining buds, producing larger and better peaches next year. Other sources suggest entirely cutting off a large percentage (e.g, half) of the newly grown branches, while leaving the other new branches untrimmed. Of course, newly grown branches that are too long should be trimmed according to both techniques.
Last summer, our small peach tree produced over 100 small peaches. I was disappointed that the fruit was not larger, and I resolved to do something about it next year. Yesterday, I trimmed all of the newly grown branches and twigs back by about one-half in an attempt to reduce the amount of fruit production next year. I found that the newly grown branches are easy to identify, because they are thin, green and red in color, and are not woody like the older branches.
I will report back on the results next year. If our tree still produces more than about 50 fruits despite the new pruning method, I will thin them out in May.
December 08 2008 | Peaches/Nectarines | Comments Off on Peach Tree Pruning
The peaches are ripening on the 6 year old O’Henry peach tree in our yard this week. The tree had about 200 peaches. That’s too many for me and my partner to eat before they rot. After giving some away, I still have a lot left. So I am going to turn a bunch of them into jarred peach preserves.
The peaches are tasty, but they are small in size, much smaller than last year’s crop. I think I should have thinned the fruit more. I waited too long to thin this year (July), and I didn’t remove enough of the pre-ripened fruit from the tree. Last year, this tree had far fewer peaches, but they were much larger. I think the peaches tasted better and were juicier last year.
Next year, I plan to prune the tree much more than I did this year. Peaches and nectarines fruit on one year old branches. If I remove more of the branches in the dormant season, the tree should have less fruit next year. I also plan to thin aggressively in May and June to reduce the crop to about 100 fruits.
O’Henry peaches are a good variety overall. They don’t rot easily or split, and I have never seen insects eating them. Although squirrels love them, so the tree needs to be netted.
My mom bought and planted this tree in our yard after she bought O’Henry peaches at a fruit stand and really enjoyed them. The tree has grown incredibly fast in the past two years, after I transplanted it from the front yard to a sunnier spot in the back yard. I waited too long in the dormant season to transplant it. The tree was just starting to bloom. It went into shock and nearly died. I fertilized and watered it excessively the spring and summer after that, and it came back in a big way. Now, it’s one of the best looking fruit trees in our yard, and it requires very little care. Besides watering and occasional fertilizing, the only special care I give it is dormant season spray for peach leaf curl and of course netting.
August 23 2008 | Peaches/Nectarines | Comments Off on O’Henry Peaches