Pruning and Peaches

The most basic info on pruning... backyard style

1)One third of the tree has to come off to maintain.

2) Everything you cut will either branch at that point. If your cut the whole branch it will not come back. In most cases this is okay.

3)Summer pruning is needed to maintain the size of a tree (if you plan to keep it small and it is a full size or a semi full sized tree).

4)Summer pruning will not effect the crop that forms as this usually occurs in the Fall or late Summer.

5) Don't prune plums or pluots in the winter.. as this will effect the crop.

6)California lets more smaller branches stay...because of the longer season.

7)Never prune pomegranates without some gloves.. they might be related to bougainvilleas. Big spikes!

8)Now is the time for pruning and spraying. One spray period each for each holiday .. Thanksgiving (petal drop) Christmas (complete dormancy) President's Day (pre flower). At if you get at least two of these will reduce the dreaded peach curl. Spray can have lime and oil components. Dad uses a separate sprayer (one gallon) for just this purpose.

9)Mistakes in keeping too much tree and not pruning hard enough can be somewhat mitigated by ruthless thinning. The thinner should not allow peaches to remain on the tree closer than a fist apart.

This weekend I pruned all my little peach trees. 7 peach trees occupy our front yard. Also I did a once over with the two pluots and the pomegranate.

We have had some serious hours of cold this year already. This is what is required for peaches to produce. Some varieties require as many as 700 cold hours. When we have a really wet Fall sometimes we don't get the cold that these trees require.

I expect a comment from dad on how this guideline could be improved.. Ha!

Pat