It looks like this year with the early spring, hard freezes might come into play here.I guess time will tell!
Whats a hugelkulter bed?
Olpea, I have made critical errors with three of my peaches. I let their trunks get too tall. No going back is there?
Mrs. G,
I’m afraid there isn’t any going back. 
You could get lucky and have some adventious shoot come out down lower, but if the trees are very old they tend not to do that.
I made the same mistake on some of my first peach trees. I still have one of them. It’s a funny thing to look at. The scaffolds start about chest high or higher. To keep the tree w/in reach I prune it very vigorously. It transformed into a kind of weeping peach tree.
Blueberry,
I sent the pictures above on my phone at the farm. Now that I see them at home, I notice they don’t seem to show as much wood as what is really there, so perhaps your trees also have a lot more wood.
You mean from the sites I prune? I used to have a Brush Bandit chipper estate model with a 23 HP ONAN engine and hydraulic feed, but now I just take the tight bundles and throw them in my light pick-up truck. When we load a whole days brush it is very impressive even though my helper manages to compress it a great deal.
I takes about 3 years for the stuff to break down but it keeps weeks away while its happening and probably increases available water for my well.
Trees look great. Can you pick all of the fruit standing on the ground?
Olpea, in listening to your wise words on orcharding with peaches, it is still scarry for a ‘newbie’ to pull out the clippers and cut the new tree in half. Ugh, sorry but true. I’ve had my trees for a number of years as you know, but I have a new peach that is pruned well and two new ones arriving that will be ‘olpea’ pruned! Just thought I’d ask. I have sawed out the enter branches and will tie down the remaining branches so they turn downward. Thanks so much!
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Please check my response below. gosh you click the wrong button and you cannot get back to the right place. Sorry for the confusion.
Blueberry,
We don’t use ladders. For the most part if I can’t reach it, I prune it. That said, you can actually prune a little higher because the weight of the fruit will pull the branch down.
It can be a little tough for some people thinning, but we just pull the branch down to thin it.
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I believe that may work. We keep a few flower beds in cover crops each year and I believe I could plow a big ditch in the middle of the bed and fill it with the smaller clippings. Should be able to use the disk bedders to pull the dirt over the clippings.
Some pictures of my trees mostly in their 5th season. I’ve made mistakes, continue to make mistakes. Most of my issues to get to this point is probably “over doing” or “over mothering” every process. Feel free to be constructive or destructive. This may help others. I have read and re-read Alan’s pages, you-tubed ad nauseum and read every book I can find. In hindsight, any cost spent on hands-on demo would be well spent. I think at this point, I have the basic concept, but tend to get more aggressive at the end than the beginning. My trees don’t grow in perfect straight lines like they do in the books. My stones are shown first, pomes later. For what it’s worth. Chad Eastern PA/6A
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Unbelievable - looks like a well maintained public park with a big landscape crew to do the work. I bet you stay busy all the time and enjoy it
Rows look straight to me!
Do you sell what you grow?
Beautiful orchard!
Your spread looks fantastic. Nothing to be ashamed of there. Love the mulch rows.
Thanks, what you see here is mostly due to reading what people here have posted both here and on the old days at GardenWeb.
Blueberrythrill, I haven’t sold anything. To be honest, I haven’t had large production to date. I am hopeful this year. I harvested quite a few baskets of peaches and nectarines last year, but pears haven’t set yet to date, and the apples seem to contract something different each year that limits good production. I haven’t gathered enough wisdom to identify and react quick enough to some of the things until it’s too late. Last year it was fireblight and peachborers, year before plum curc/ coddling moth, 3 years ago CAR & stinkbugs etc…etc… All part of the learning curve evident through reading here. Last fall, the area and areas surrounding have been quarantined due to a new Asian invasive called the “Spotted Lanternfly”, as if I needed something new. Haven’t seen them yet on my property.
What I have harvested so far gets heisted from friends and family, who only show up to visit once the fruit is in baskets…
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I see a lot of well trained trees of good size in the pictures. Things look great. You should be drowning in fresh fruit this summer!
Do you have a defined a spray program for each fruit?
Have you tried trapping and monitoring counts for specific insects? It new to me, but I plan to monitor several this year. Need to buy the traps and lures so I’m ready.
Anyone counting insects to help control spray timing?
Fortunately, I figured out how to get on the weekly email alert from the Penn State Extension. While from their locations, and not in my town, it at least gives a “heads up”. They also report insect traffic counts weekly and report conditions that promote fungal disease. In fact, I just got an email alert about scab spores detected at some sites and a reminder to get the copper sprays on. By sheer dumb luck, I did that yesterday but I’m not showing green yet anyway.
Yes, I follow a spray program/schedule similar to those noted on this forum.
It looks great! I did the same thing you did in saying that you ‘over mothered’ every tree. I even named mine after people, but stopped doing that after borers killed two trees! I have a moderate spray schedule that works for me in my climate. Borers were my nemesis. Horrible insects with ability to kill a three year old tree. I listened and read a great deal to and look what you get! A beautiful orchard. My trees did not really start producing until year seven. Then brown rot found me. Its always something. Just keep on top of it. Great job!!!
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