What signs do you go by to tell when a peach tree is nearing the end of its life?
I’ve got some old peach trees. I decide they are good as dead when they stop being able to produce shoots of a good length (approx 18”) even if I fertilize and prune.
And peaches (mostly) don’t seem to grow new shoots/ branches from older wood so you don’t really get renewal growth like you would from an apple or pear (if you thin them and get light to the older trunk and branches, they get new growth from adventitious buds).
My old sad peach trees have shoots that are barely 6” long at the end of the season and only grow new wood at the very ends of branches.
My old but not sad peach trees grow nice long shoots and respond well to being pruned by growing vigorously the next year.
I also have one strange peach tree (flat wonderful) that grew new shoots off the trunk after it was pruned. And it is probably a 15-20 year old tree. None of my others have done that.
3 Likes
The shoot length thing is a good indicator. Once they’re barely pushing 6 inches even after a decent prune and some feed, they’re usually running out of steam. Also worth looking at the bark on older wood, if it’s getting really rough and cracked with lots of dead stubs that never broke, that’s usually a sign the tree is struggling to push energy through those sections.
1 Like
