I see a lot of bark damage on peach scaffolds, just upper part, seems like sun damage. Is it a concern? Should I plan to renew scaffolds or just let it be like that? Tree is set with peaches this year.
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I had a Reliance peach tree 20 years… found out after joining here that it was not actually a Reliance… but was mislabeled… it matched Reliance in every way except the blossoms … mine were very showy and true reliance blossoms are not.
In the last two years I had it… it started having that same problem… perhaps it is just a common problem for older peach trees. I hear they are fairly short lived… and mine made it to 20… which may be longer than average.
I got overwhelmed with OFM and Brown Rot and gave up on my peaches a short while back. Mine got the axe and stump grinder. I have replaced them with raspberries and persimmons. Something I don’t have to spray.
Good Luck with your peach.
TNHunter
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How old is your peach tree? You are in the east coast. Peach trees usually do not live long here.
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@TNHunter Thanks for your reply! This is a Contender peach, 14 years old. It’s a consistent producer for me and I’d like it to stay.
It’s a low maintenance tree. My other peach tree, Flat Wonderful has similar scaffold damage. And note, only direct south facing scaffolds have this bark issue. Scaffolds growing in other directions are fine.
Pictures of Flat Wonderful scaffolds:
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It is possible yoir trees have been damaged by southwest injury (in your case, south 
). You can paint the trunk and branch with white latex paint. Mosr recommended 50:50 with water.
Do your trees leaf out fully by the summer?
Is it just deadwood where it is split? Or is there still green cambium beneath where it split?
I agree with others, it looks like sun scald. It is too late to do much about those big areas as they are dead already but younger shoots could use some white paint to minimize that issue.
Peaches have many reasons to not live long in the east: canker, borers, sunscald, etc etc.
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Could be lesser peach tree borer damage. They’re usually higher up on the trunk. Are there any holes or galleries under there? Since it usually happens in winter when the sun is low, I’d expect sunscald low down on the trunk, not on the top of the limbs.
Sun’s capacity to heat a distant object is maximal when the sunrays are perpendicular to the surface of the object. Trunks are usually straight up, so when the sun is low, the rays are more perpendicular to the trunk. However if those big branches are on north-oriented slant, a high sun could also heat it very effectively.
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