I have a Scarlet Prince peach tree that originally grew very well but now only want to grow up high. The pic is hard to see due to the green background, but if tou zoom you can see all of the lower growth is spindly and dead now. Id rather keep this tree small. Is there anything I can do to force lower growth that would allow me to summer prune some of the height out of this tree? Guess I could try to bud it on the lower branches this summer.
Any thoughts?
If you don’t mechanically pull the wood to a more horizontal position the other option is to open up the center when you prune, removing a lot of wood to favor the outward growing branches. You can even cut them to a near horizontal lateral. Then, during growing season remove excessively vigorous uprights in favor of moderately vigorous growth that will carry you crop the following years. There are several good you-tube videos on pruning peaches.
Peaches function better without competing with grass, as a general rule. Keep at least a 5’ diameter mulched ring if you’d rather not use herbicide (roundup must never hit the trunk). .
