I’m sure you know this, but for others I’d like to point out there are no collars formed on the branches which broke. If no collar is formed, the scaffold wants to split the tree rather than hold the load.
I agree with you V-training has this inherent weakness. By design, the scaffolds selected are supposed to be similar in size and generally selected early, so it’s difficult for them to form collars at the attachment. With the traditional 3 scaffold vase system, the scaffolds can be selected to be less than 1/2 or 1/3 the diameter of the trunk and will form good collars.
We now do a pretty good job selecting the smaller scaffolds, but still have some problems selecting small enough shoots attached to the scaffolds to form collars, so we get some breakage as the tree grows and those shoots become big enough branches that they break off where they attach on the scaffolds.
@MaureeninMaine,Sorry to see some of your losses after that snow storm. Your orchard is beautiful!!
Mark - I always love it when you gives us peach tutorial with pictures. It makes it very easy to understand. Your last “before and after” peach tree pruning was excellent. Thank you.
As a little follow-up…I was lucky enough to replace the 7 trees that we lost THIS season as we already had an order placed with Adams County Nursery and have not received it yet. I called them and they were able to add 7 trees to the order…which I also delayed from April 20 to May 4 due to the recent rotten stretch of weather.
Thank you @patrick for the link, it’s amazing how they put new growth on such an old bark (12-15 years old). It is still cold here in Canada, I have few dwarf varieties which are getting ready to flower maybe in 1-2 weeks
My experience is that it is very hard to graft peach. I finally sent my dying Lars Anderson scions ten years ago to John Bunker of MOFGA and Fedco. John magically was able to propagate the cutting and hence the LA seedlings. I find that patience is the best resource any of us fruit growers can use. Best. Waite Maclin, Pastor Chuck Orchards
Peaches are harder to graft, but are doable. Timing is critical for success, in my experience. And of course grafting to young wood produces much better success. I’ve found budding peaches produces much more consistent results.
Maybe I need to prepare cuttings and keep it in a fridge till Summer & Autumn, just to play with it, experiments, maybe try to root I am novice with fruit trees grafting but I believe grafting peach on a peach is bad idea… plum as rootstock is better. And I already ordered grafted peach trees from nursery.
I ordered few new peach trees from nursery; but I have also 95% hope that my peaches will continue to grow. One (thick one, FLAMIN’ FURY PF 24C) looks super healthy and rootstock (which is very special plum variety I believe) is pushing buds, so I’ll keep it anyway for future grafts (onto plum rootstock!). Another one, extremely productive (in a partial shade, evening sun only!) is I believe Reliance, it was looking diseased anyway, bacterial, and it looks now diseased too, dark holes in a bark. Regarding grass around… I don’t care if I have 15 Lbs instead of 135 I specifically planted fescue grass last year because I don’t have time for weeds; crabgrass was growing on top of big bark pieces
I found which rootstock I have under Flaming Fury 24C, it is Krymsk 1 Dwarf, so, don’t waste time for bark graft, you have something better
" VVA-1, also known as Krymsk 1, is a new dwarfing rootstock for plum trees. It was developed in Russia and released in 2004. It is related to Prunus cerasifera , the Cherry Plum - a species of plums which have naturally smaller trees than other plum species."
I bought few trees from Nutcracker nursery in Quebec, Canada; they sent me huge 7-feet trees (but trunk is about 3/4" or less). With flower buds; never being trimmed. I am wondering… are those own-roots? I sent them Email. Already planted, and cut at knee-height.
I am novice with fruit trees grafting but I believe grafting peach on a peach is bad idea… plum as rootstock is better. And I already ordered grafted peach trees from nursery.