After heavy dormant pruning, our peach and nectarine trees send out many new branches each year. Because these new branches are not under the eaves, they develop leaf curl where the tree is exposed to rain. Leaves under the eaves appear fine, but the fruit often has mold or other problems. Would pruning the tree in the summer help control these long shoots? Any ideas to help enhance the health and production? These are old trees on a south wall in Victoria region and on a good hot year we have lovely fruit.
You could do some pruning in July to open the center of the tree -- more air circulation will reduce fungal diseases by facilitating drying after a rain. A dormant spray, just prior to budswell in early spring, with lime-sulphur, copper or Bordeaux can be effective against leaf curl. See this website for more info: http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/peach.html Apply a pound of potassium fertiliser (0-0-60) to improve fruit quality and tree health, or use a few pounds of an organic fertiliser that is balanced in N and K, like 3-2-3, applied in early spring.
Thanks for the advice, that website was very helpful. It sounds like I need to do more work during the winter on the tree. Any thoughts on how to prevent the long sprouts, or is this just part of the growth needed to revitalize the tree to keep the fruit production up?
It sounds like you prune to keep it shorter than it naturally would be (which is fine), so the shoots are somewhat inevitable. However, summer pruning can help keep down the tree's vigor, so there will be less to dormant prune, which is causing the shoots to be so long and vigorous. Below are links to a couple threads that speak more of this; some refer to apples, but the concept is the same. http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showpost.php?p=2790&postcount=4 http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showpost.php?p=69042&postcount=7
Hi there, those were helpful threads although I have to admit that I find the art of pruning to be a bit daunting. It seems that if I take off some of the shoots in the summer, then I can probably prevent them from regrowing every spring, but then I still need to allow some new wood for fruiting in the following years? Is the peach a type of tree that fruits on laterals?
