Hi everyone, im a very novice gardner looking for some pruning advice for a peach tree. I just relized that this was a peach tree last year after cuting some dead branches hoping to save the tree and to my suprise it produced peaches that same year (the first time in the four years that ive lived here). I want to keep it going and after alot of research found that you should prune peach trees every year at a young age to form the tree. My issue is Ive never pruned this tree and from what I’ve seen it should have one main trunk with shoots coming off 6 to 12 inches above the soil. This one has alot of branches coming below the soil and im not sure what to do. In the first pic you can see where I lopped off two big branches last year and to the left is what is new growth coming from the base and has shot up. My questions are…
If the new growth is separate from the old tree can I separate them and plant another tree? I plan on creating a mulch bed and uncovering some of the roots to see if its possible, not sure…
Next, if seperating them would be a bad idea, whats the best way to prune the tree since it does not have a main trunk but several individual shoots coming up? One side of the tree is very open and the smaller branches dont look like they’ll support any peaches. I’ve posted some pics and appreciate any advice on where to go from here.
Heres a pic of the whole tree, it about 7 ft tall and the older part of the tree is behind the the new growth in the pic. It seems like its doing fine as is but i havent found any info on how to prune with multiple trunks/branches below the ground.
If the tree is not a seedling,then those lower shoots are suckers coming out of the root stock and probably should be removed.
The top can be cut off,above those three branches that are coming off the main trunk.
Also,this is a good time to pull some fruit off,leaving about 10 inches between each one,with most left toward the inside.bb
The standard procedure would be to prune those additional shoots down at the base of the stump and only keep the main trunk. If this tree originated in a nursery, then the tree was grafted near the base and those 4 shoots are growing from the rootstock and are a different variety of peach from the main tree. The nursery selected the rootstock based on the quality of the roots, not the quality of fruit, unlike the top half of the tree. Therefore those four shoots may produce poor fruit.
On the other hand it looks like there are 2 old stumps at the base. Perhaps the original tree above the graft died when it was young and now all you have left is growth from the rootstock. These are commonly called root suckers.
You can sometimes divide a tree but it risks serious damage in many cases since you will be cutting out a lot of the roots. Generally not recommended.
Consider air layering as a safer alternative propagation method.
Thanks @Bradybb, That brings up another question. The smaller branches are about 5 ft tall and have alot of buds. I cant tell right now but do you think they may have a different root system? From looking on line, suckers can form there own roots. They look really good and if I cut them off all I’ll be left with is the main trunk which dosent look so good and will thin out the tree alot. I plan on exposing some of the roots to see if I can separate them but I might be totally wrong. I would hate to cut them off, they look much better than the rest of the tree. I would like to take the suckers and make a new tree but Im not sure if thats thats possible or if like you mentioned, they could all be coming out of the same trunk and have one root system. Am I way off here? Thanks!
Thanks @danchappell, The two stumps are what I cut off last year because they were completely dead. I cut them off not even knowing this was a fruit tree and a month later the tree took off and produced peaches for the first time. The only thing left was the main truck and then the smaller ones came up really quick after that. If the new stuff is separate “not growing out of the old tree trunk” do you think it would be worth it to try and separate them? Or should i just cut them off and work with the main tree? Thanks again!
If you want make those suckers into a new tree then learn how to air layer. Air layering forces the sucker to grow roots in a container of soil above the ground then you cut it off and plant it. It is pretty easy.
I wouldn’t bother saving those suckers unless the fruit is something special and I was tight on cash for proper rootstock, or just doing something a little unorthodox for fun. I have some trees where I kept 3 suckers and grafted 3 different varieties to the same root system. Most people will recommend to cut the suckers off and keep the one trunk.
As all have mentioned, it’s likely the suckers are just rootstock. However, it’s possible the fruit could be acceptable. If the suckers have fruit on them, you could leave the fruit and see if the quality is acceptable.
I wouldn’t try to divide the tree. It’s pretty much certain, it’s all connected. I’m not saying you can’t divide them like roses, but I wouldn’t try it, especially since we are probably talking rootstock suckers here.
Honestly, I would look hard at buying a new peach tree for replacement. They grow fast, and you can get a variety which would be very suitable for your climate.
I think Vanwell is still shipping trees.
I was typing while Dan was also responding. Looks like we more or less wrote the same thing.
Thanks @Olpea , I didnt get a chance to harvest the peaches last year. Going to pay more attention to it this year and see how the they are and go from there.
Thanks for the replys, awesome forum! Looks like ive got some homework to do. Think I’m going trim out most of the root suckers and leave the bigger ones to try and air layer if there decent.
It is easy to learn to prune trees that are growing vigorously, but in home orchards, this is often not the case. Trees that are over cropped, suffer from excessive competition from nearby forest trees, and/or grass, receive inadequate nitrogen, suffer periods of drought, are older trees, have very vigorous growth that gets too high, shading lower growth, or don’t have enough soil may grow nothing like the example here, so sometimes there are far too few healthy uprights to carry a crop.
In my own orchard, pruning my peaches and nects is relatively easy, but I don’t get to manage the trees in all the orchards I prune in the same way- the majority have trees that don’t grow with the same vigor, although I do fertilize them.
The compromises that have to be made with such trees is the hard part.
I will say that the orchards I take the time to summer prune are easier to maintain the peaches. It keeps better growth where you want it. Thinning fruit adequately is equally important. Thin heavy and early. Make sure peaches have ample nitrogen right through summer. Irrigate as needed to sustain adequate growth without creating watery fruit (that’s a bit tricky). I would not water at all for month leading up to harvest and pray for drought. Make sure the soil stays moist after harvest, though, if trees are still growing (any but latest varieties).
Thanks for all the info, I decided to try and restart the process of training the tree to open up. Thanks for the videos @Olpea and all the other respones. Hopefully I didnt take to much off but Im going to put some mulch down and some fertilizer and see how it does. Dont have a whole lot of time to invest in a new tree this year, figure i can learn on this one and maybe plant another one next year. I noticed some bugs moving in so I got some (fruit tree spray plus). Would applying this after trimming so much put to much stress on the tree? I was thinking about waiting a few weeks. Thanks again everyone.
