After a week of very cold temps, I will likely lose most of my peach crop. The trees are on 7th leaf and under decent control. As always, I have a lot more fruit wood than I “would” have needed. In the past, I would leave a bit more fruit wood because it is difficult to cut so many branches loaded with flowers. I’m not sure how I have managed to keep regenerating new fruiting wood.
If I really end up with few to no blooms, this may be the year to hone my thinning skills. As I walk between the trees, I’m already mentally pruning the obvious, downward pointing, water shoots that shot straight up. Fixing past mistakes, like a few past water shoots that were headed to stubs that to no surprise, still shot back up.
After addressing the easy pruning, I need to really thin the excess fruit wood.
When you remove a fruit wood, will another one grow in the same place?
What density on fruit woods should be left on the tree? Is there a recommended spacing?
With a heavy pruning, should I expect a lot of water shoots?
When this happens I prune the snot out of my trees. I’ll be doing it this year because I’m in the same boat as you and many others. I’d say I take out 1/2 to 3/4 of some trees. They grow back vigorously and fruit the next year. It takes follow up summer pruning and more pruning a year from now to get where I want to be. This summer it will only be to remove those overly vigorous shoots that are in the wrong place.
Steven,when you do your renewal fruit wood prune, would you please share some pictures, methods here. I am learning to do fruit wood renewal prune as my peach trees fruit farther (also getting higher) and farther from the trunk. I like the majority of the fruit wood in between 3’ to 8’.
To me it means taking out big and small wood. Cut back major limbs as low as you think you can and still get regrowth. On the tree pictured I’d take out about half of those major limbs at about waist height. Then thin out smaller wood on what’s left. That way you’ll lower the fruiting wood and have lots of nice new growth down low next year.
As above prune back to 3ft height. That will give you new wood in the 3-8ft window for next year.
Then the following year or years do the same thing to the limbs that you don’t cut back this year. Over the next 2-3 years you have a whole new bearing surface.
If there are any live shoots below where you cut the tree will grow back. If it grows back from down low you’ve done the job and can shape that new growth the way you wish.
It’s sort of like thinning fruit. Just do it and don’t fret.
Today I pruned a frozen out peach and a nectarine. It took about a hour total. These trees aren’t too big so I took off about 2ft of height and at least 50% of the wood that could have borne fruit this year. I could have gone lower but probably at the cost of potential crop next year.
Both trees have short new wood down low near the trunk. Many would remove that. But both trees could us an additional scaffold. And that low wood allows me to prune again in a year or two for a whole new tree shape.
[quote=“mrsg47, post:5, topic:52585, full:true”]
The ends look like you have many brooms.
[/quote]Mrsg47,
A few years past, I had a lot of blooms that “looked good” after a hard freeze. But two weeks later they just dried up and fell off. So time will tell.
I did give the trees a good haircut and new growth is starting next years wood
Hi, I really meant brooms not blooms. When a thin branch is pruned, it can have a tendency to send out five or more new stems of growth. Those are called brooms. I either removed the entire, broom or left one of the new thin branches of growth to bloom for the following year. My apricots and peaches had a tendency to do this.
Thanks for the clarification.
They are a bit broomy. I’m in Prague this next 2 weeks and I get to look at the trees the locals have. The scaffolds are chopped off a 4 ft! But they pack many trees in a small yard. When I get back it should be split shuck time. Any scaffold ends with no peaches will get the lobbers. Ideally I’d get half this year…
No fruit on my trees but they sure have a lot of new growth for fruiting wood next year. I’m pleased with the pruning response so far. Hopefully most of the new wood sets fruit buds. It should since growth is vastly spread out in many small shoots and not big watersprouts. See post 9 above for the just pruned pictures.
