Should this peach tree be re-topped?

General Fruit Growing
#1

I planted this nursery-bought Elberta peach last fall and it has gotten off to a great start this spring. Just before it broke dormancy, I topped the tree, keeping the lowest set of high quality scaffold branches. That put the highest scaffold 42" from the ground.

Now that it’s growing, I’ve been surprised to see plenty of vigorous shoots lower down on the trunk. This gives me the option - at least theoretically - to re-top the tree and let these shoots become new scaffolds.

The advantage would be much lower scaffolds: the highest branch could be just 24" from the ground, allowing harvesting and pruning without a stepladder.

The disadvantage would be losing the existing scaffolds, which are nicely set in all respects… although a bit higher than I’d prefer.

I’d be grateful to hear the thoughts of experienced peach growers and I’d especially like to hear about any problems that might arise from “re-topping” this tree. It’s obviously young (however it did set some fruit, which I’ll remove in favor of maximum structural growth). Do you think it would be wise to trade the solid (but young) existing scaffolds for brand-new lower ones?

I’ll include a photo from a different angle – showing the new, lower shoots more clearly – just below this post (I can only upload one image per post as a new user).

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#2

Here’s another angle:

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#3

Which ring of branches are you thinking of keeping? Upper or lower?

#4

Was initially going to keep the upper branches. The lower shoots didn’t emerge until the tree broke dormancy. Now I’m considering re-topping the tree and letting the new shoots (which are lower) become the scaffolds.

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#5

I would prune off those Lower branches, and tie down those upper scaffolds to train them to horizontal growth. As they fruit the fruit burden will bring them closer to the ground. I would mulch this tree out to its future drip line with wood chips or leaf mulch to smother out grass and weeds.
Dennis
Kent wa

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#6

There are a lot of ways of growing peach trees. What you are asked is a good question, but a fairly nuanced question.

I prefer a little shorter tree when I get one which has scaffolds that high, although I’ve also grown pedestrian trees with scaffolds staring that high. I graft most of my trees, but still buy some. If I get a grafted tree that doesn’t have any low scaffolds, most of the time a bud will sprout down low and I just grow a new trunk from that lower point. I’m not suggesting that for your tree because you have plenty of other options. For me most of the time I’m will to trade some lost time for better scaffolds placement because we have a reasonably long growing season and peach trees generally grow rapidly here.

I’ve tried to look as closely as I can at your photo, and it looks like one of your upper scaffolds doesn’t have the best collar, so that may be another reason for selecting some lower scaffolds.

You might consider keeping one of the top scaffolds and select a couple lower ones.

Here’s a vid I made last season. Quality is poor but maybe it will help. I generally don’t spend near this much time selecting a scaffold but I wanted to be extra careful since I was making a vid.

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#7

I’d go lower. It sounds like that’s what you’d like to try. The new lower scaffolds look to have great angles and good choices that won’t all start at same height.

The loss in growth will be minimal.

It’s really about could not should. IMO it could very reasonably be retopped. But no reason that it should be.

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#8

Well some real experts chimed in. Funny though as I disagree. I like those angles on the top branches. And the lower branches look to be 45 degrees which I think are too steep. I like about 60 degrees. Plus the top is not that high. 42 inches less than four feet. I like them just about right there. No wrong way to do it. So either way will work.

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#9

Too me the lower branches, from what can be seen, have perfect attachment angle/collars. The angle of the branch can be changed via training.

I will agree that height could be too low but that’s more personal preference. Either will work. Just train the scaffolds where you want them and stiffen them up so they’ll hold up a good crop.

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#10

Thanks SO MUCH for all the replies so far. It’s great to hear reasoning on both sides of the option! I’m going to do some careful thinking about how I want to use the surrounding area and that might ultimately make the decision.

I’d love to try lower scaffolds, but one disadvantage I didn’t mention is that the tree is situated where there isn’t lots of room to maneuver with lawn equipment, etc. (fence on two sides, large-ish plants and a compost pile on the other two). I can imagine very low scaffolds making that situation more challenging.

I have a very nice Belle of Georgia tree with scaffolds that are about the same height as this one (currently), and I need to use a stepladder to reach the upper branches (8-10’) for some harvesting and maintenance. Whenever I see trees with very low scaffolds, I think “must be nice not to use a stepladder.” But one seeming advantage of the higher scaffolds… the tree is easier to maneuver around/under. Maybe what I really need is a big open field! :smile:

Another gardening decision to ponder… thanks again for the great input on both sides!

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#11

Well just to learn and see how tree reacts go with the lower scaffolds.
I’m growing these Indian Free seedlings and unlike a lot of peach trees these branch like crazy. They have over 15 branches coming out of the trunk. It makes it confusing as what to use. Nice to have multiple choices though.

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#13

The video helped me! Thank you!

Questions:
Why aren’t you pruning in dormant season?
Why didn’t you top the tree and choose scaffolds when the tree was first planted?

Thank you!

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#14

Good questions. I’m not sure where you are located, but in my area (greater KC) it can be death to a peach tree to prune during the dormant season.

My main hard knocks lesson was that I lost about 150 peach trees less than 4 yr. old from trying to manage labor by pruning in the winter/dormant season. If you never get below zero, pruning in the dormant season is fine. In my climate, my mistake bit hard and cost 10s of thousands of dollars in lost production, because we dropped fast to -9F during that winter.

There is really no reason to prune peach trees during the dormant season (except if you are a commercial grower trying to manage labor). Pruning during the growing season avoids most of the problems with perennial canker.

You really can’t choose scaffolds at first planting, in all except a very few cases. If you are buying bare root trees, they almost always don’t offer enough choices. Likewise of my own grafted trees.

Often it takes a year, sometimes two, before you have enough choices to make good selections in my area. One of the accepted management practices in peach scaffold selection is to make a “trashy center” then make scaffold selections after that.

Sometimes you get lucky on purchased trees and get a feathered maiden which has lots of choices of scaffolds, so you might be able to start choosing scaffolds right away. But in my experience, this is rare. Actually very rare from the trees I’ve purchased.

Below is a vid I’ve posted numerous times from Mike Parker (NCSU). He is training new peach trees. Whips automatically require a season’s growth before selecting scaffolds. He is pruning a feathered maiden in the vid. But his feathered maiden rarely matches the feathered maidens I’ve received.

Most of my feathered maidens have dead feathers shortly after planting (when they’ve already started to leaf out in the box during shipment, and die in the least frosty weather). So there is no way we could choose feathers as scaffolds, because the tender growth on the feathers doesn’t survive the least unfavorable weather.

Sorry if it doesn’t make sense, but nuances are hard for me to explain.

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#15

I’m in Utah, zone 6 (really it acts like zone 5). Where is KC?

I topped my peach trees when they were planted bare root last spring. This year I pruned when it was in the pink bud stage. Is this right?

I appreciate the video and wish I’d topped them higher!

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#16

That’s fine.

KC stands for Kansas City.

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