Our trees are now 5 years old and some of the longer branches with peaches on them are looking like they are headed down under gravity. The branches have at least a 45 degree angle from the main branch without a load. Two questions 1) whats the best way to support these as peaches develop? Some sort of stake/cane underneath to prop up or a gentle sling from the bigger branch above to hold up?
2) does it work/make sense to limit the length of a branch? One in particular just keeps getting longer and longer and not so much thicker, but it is also starting to overhand the driveway. After this season i would kind of like to trim it near one of the small shoota that goes up. Should i?
Iāve design a very crude, very simple method that actually works really well. I just take a 2 x 4 and cut a v-shaped notch on the top- then I cut the 2 x 4 off flatt on the bottom at a height that is about 8 inches above where the loaded limb has sunk down to- this way it instantly puts enough weight on the 2 x 4 to hold it in place, and the V makes a nook that holds the main limb and keeps it from slipping away.
This has undoubtedly saved many overloaded limbs for me on all kinds of fruit trees. Of course it was more fun back when 2 x 4 s were $3 and not the $9 price that they are at now!!! WHEW!
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Cool! I have done the exact same thing but i cut mine to a point and drive them in to the ground so the wind doesnt blow them over and ādropā a branchā¦. Might have to run a chain and lock through the 2x4s to keep them from getting stolen now 
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Great minds think alike! haah. I also tried cutting the bottom to a point and sticking it in the ground!!! But I found that leaving it flat was more sturdy than the stability Iād get from sticking the point in the ground, because I could never get it deep enough to help so the additional surface area of a flat bottom seemed to work better. But I never really tried to hammer them in so your way might be best if I had.
Listen, I recently built a chicken coop and I had no idea what had happened with the price of lumber. I loaded a bunch of lumber onto my cart at Lowes and didnāt even pay attention to prices. I go to the register thinking Iāve got like $50 in lumber and the woman rings me up and says ā$370ā. I almost passed out!!! haha. I ended up putting a lot of it back and going back and scavenging my 2 barns for old wood, pulling nails out of a lot of junk wood, and using some from a pile of old deck wood where I replaced my deck. CRAZY!
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Sometimes i bring my ladders and horses out to use them as temporary supports until i can find a useful branch or stake. I like to wait till they are really stressing however
I know Iām starting to sound like a āme tooā person, but honest to goodness I have 2 step laders holding up limbs right this minute, and last year I used 2 saw horses too! As I said aboveā¦great minds think alike! ha
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Me too. 
Sometimes i bring my ladders and horses out to use them as temporary supports
This is what I pictured, for a second . . .
Too literal at 7 in the morning! Crazy artist needs coffee - FAST!
I am using the lumber. And in some places - a shepherdās hook. And when I ran out of those things . . . bamboo. We left the little branch āprongsā on and they make nice forks to hold the branches. I thought theyād get kicked out by the wind and tree movement, but I wedged the bottom of each pole at one of the T posts that I use for staking. Works well so far.
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Should have had you ride that horse over to hold this one up!! On the bright side I wonāt need a ladder to pick them .
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Hahaha, I really like the picture you have drawn Karen, I think its tail can support a thin limb tooš
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. Even better than what cityman and I were talking about !
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@PomGranny and @thecityman ,
My husband just created a horse for me a few minutes ago.
It is for my Spring Snow peach. It has branches on one side so it us unbalanced. Yesterday, the wind knocked the pot over so today I asked him to bulit the support. I put rocks on the other side of thepot to balance the pot, too.
I used a 3/4" PVC pipe over an iron rebar piece driven into the ground. On the tree end I made a rough āYā shape out of some angle connectors and a piece of foam to keep things from rubbingā¦ Further up the branch Iām supporting it with a sling connected to a piece of lumber driven into the ground. Hereās a picture, although itās a bit tough to see due to all the foliage.
very clever!