Hi everyone, A couple years ago I had a nectarine tree in my yard die from Peach Leaf Curl (I tried treating it but nothing worked), and a new peach tree has taken its place from the rootstock. I'm not sure which variety it is, but it has long, thin branches and green leaves... Most rootstock trees I've seen photos of have red leaves. It blossomed this year with many relatively inconspicuous pink blossoms, and now has plenty of fruit growing on it. I'm not sure if it's self-fertile, and there's another "real" nectarine tree a few feet from the roostock one (it was planted there before the rootstock made a tree). Anyway, since this tree is growing fruit, I'm wondering what the quality of it will be like. I know this variety of peach isn't selected for its fruit, so I'm kind of assuming it will be mediocre at best. But since I have the nectarine tree next to the rootstock peach tree, and there is a strong likelihood that it was cross-pollinated, would that improve the quality of the fruit? Last year the nectarine tree got Peach Leaf Curl, but the rootstock tree was completely unaffected and its growth is more vigorous than the nectarine tree. Since it has a lot of fruit growing on it now, should I remove some? Or should I wait a couple months and then remove some? Since the branches on this tree are so thin, should I prune the tree to keep it more compact? Thanks in advance for any help!
Whether it is self- or cross-pollinated doesn't affect the fruit quality, but it is the genetics of that particular tree that determines the fruits' potential characteristics -- you'll have to wait and see and taste. Summer pruning could be beneficial to help make a more compact tree, maybe about late-May in your location. Let them get about quarter-sized, then thin them to one fruit per 6-8 inches along the branch. Leave even fewer if you think the weight of the ripe fruit could damage the branch. Be very conservative when you go to prune, since the process of bearing fruit will itself slow the vigor of the tree. I'm sure you could find a website or book specific to pruning fruit trees in order to make the most appropriate cuts. It has grown fast in a couple years since it already had a root-system but no top, so now that will start to balance out.
Thanks for the reply. That makes sense about the fruit, I had forgotten the fruit is the tree's tissues and not the seed's. The peaches are growing well and there are probably a few dozen of them on there. The nectarine tree has Peach Leaf Curl again this year (not too bad, though) and it looks like a few of that tree's fruit may be affected, as they look kind of bumpy... Should I just prune the diseased fruit now so the tree doesn't put so much energy into fruit that probably won't be any good? I got an almond tree last week and it had a tag on it that said it had a Nemaguard rootstock, and the suckers that grow on the nectarine tree look like the same variety as the peach/rootstock tree, so I think it's very likely that they are all Nemaguard peaches.
