"V" crotch in young peach tree

I’d venture a guess that if the two trees in a hole did not use identical clonal rootstocks then the odds of problems would increase.

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Thank you all for sharing the information you have. I love the chance to learn from other’s experiences not matter how much experience you have. :slight_smile:

Well, good news and bad news. Closer inspection of the base showed me (I think) that both branches are above the graft mark, but, I did find a jelly-like substance at the left side of the base. Is that canker? It was very soft and kinda seeping into the dirt. I also tried digging down with my fingers to see if I could feel how deep the root was below the surface of the soil and it was only about 1-2 inches till I could feel a big root. I know when we planted we were concerned about how close the graft was to the root. Perhaps we erred too much on the side of making sure the root was covered. But the whole graft union is above ground. This is a Sentry peach “dwarf supreme” from Stark Bros. . .do not know the rootstock.

My husband just painted the trees in hopes of outlasting any warm spells, so sorry if that makes it a little less clear on the trunk. We lost all our peach blooms last year to a cold snap after a warm up, as did a lot of y’all. (We’re in the Shenandoah Valley of VA)

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My grandparents had a few fruit trees but unfortunately, by the time I was paying attention, they weren’t really able to care for the trees any longer and so didn’t pass on any pruning or growing wisdom. But they did pass on a love for growing things. I did learn about some pests and diseases, and see what happens when trees go untended for some years.

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Hey you learn from everything. Did you see any sawdust in the jelly? If so that may be borers and not canker. Keep that base open, and I would clear some of the soil away even if it is a hole. I don’t have any good photos. On this tree I just put an inch of compost around it, so it is not exposed as usual. I usually use Tree-Tone, then put shredded leaves down and cover with compost. I ran out of leaves this year, so no leaves. You can still see a small root here, and it is mounded too. next time do this, roots need to be near the surface, most feeder roots are right at the surface and is why grass takes so much away from them.

This is Nadia and the rootstock is St Julien So far I like this rootstock a lot for plums.

I tried to brush the compost back, it’s wet though, here is a Satsuma plum on Myrobalan or Lovell, can’t remember? Notice the start of roots is above ground.

Planting high may not be all that helpful, but it keeps the trunk high and dry so canker, and even borers are going to have a harder time getting a foothold. And you can see better if you have issues, The roots need oxygen too, this helps. So plant them high and proud! If you look closely you can see feeder roots right at the base of the trunk, which you will not see at all in low planted trees, this expands the area for roots to grow under the drip line.

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I think you have borers from your description and they must be dug
out of the tree. Your tree is still young enough to be killed by the infestation.
As an aside, I have a nectarine that was double grafted and grew into the
same V formation. I decided to leave the V and both sides are growing nicely.
As long as you keep the tree properly pruned, you should have no problems

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I agree Ray with the pruning part, no matter how hard I try to shape some trees, often they find a way to defeat me so I let them go, and I have had no problems even with heavy crops. Yeah could be borers, could be canker, and I don’t want to brag, but I will, nobody else saw the problem, the student is becoming the master.

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I like the wall of suckers on one side of the tree. If you could get it all the way around it would be a free fence. And when that tree is done you can graft a couple of those over :slight_smile:

That’s a good observation Murky. But those aren’t suckers. I threw a bunch of old pears under some of the peach trees to get some pear rootstocks and that’s what you’re seeing. I have been grafting some of them to pears.

Every time I see that jelly at the base, it’s borers. I don’t get very excited about borers because they never affect performance of my trees. Apparently hasn’t affected the performance of yours either, judging by your trees vigor. Peach trees can have 1/2 the bark gone on the trunk and it doesn’t seem to slow them.

I can’t tell from the photos how far around the tree the borers have eaten,but unless they’ve eaten all the way around your tree, it will be fine. You do need to kill them though. When I see the jelly a the base I give them a drenching with Lorsban (insecticide) and the borers are done.

You probably don’t have Lorsban available, but others use permethrin insecticide and apparently it works as well for them.

Peach borers are very common and one of the easiest things to manage. But if neglected they will kill a young tree, as Ray mentions.

If you choose to go the natural method and dig them out, make sure you don’t damage more bark getting the borers out, and make sure you get all the borers. Sometimes there’s more than one.

For the record, I would still lop off one of the dual trunks. Borers at the base wouldn’t affect that decision. Your tree may hold together when it gets older but probably not, unless it has some support. If you’ll notice, the bark is already inverted in the crotch. When I see a young peach tree like that, it generally spells trouble down the road. I’ve got a couple older trees at the farm which are splitting and need to be removed.

If you choose to keep both trunks, I would definitely tie them together as they get older.

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I have the same v crotch on my young going on 3rd year in ground. Would like to know if I should cut one side off and would it damage tree? It does appear tree is cracking in v as you can see it in the pictures. [ ![20200403_113157|486x1000]

Why would you cut it? Looks like the perfect start of a peach tree grown in the open vase style.
image

Could you please show pics of the whole tree?

Thank you for that advise. Being new at this I was worried I ruin the tree. Started from a seed from an old tree that is about dead.

Any advise on pruning would be greatly appreciated. Like I said I am very new at all this. Thanks!

Peaches from a seed has a chance to be decent but may be not.

I would chop off the crooked one on the right and leave the straight up one. Then prune to open center. It is easier to see how it’s done than describing it.

Google North Carolina State peach tree pruning. It is one of the best video series of peach pruning demonstration, in my opinion.

And by chopping off half won’t harm the tree? Do I need to paint something on open cut if I do?

Some people do, I don’t becuase I am too lazy to buy sealant for one or two cuts. Also, that size is not too large.

Cut with a little slant, not straight cut so water could roll off from the wound. Cut on a dry day and if there are more dry days after the cut, it is even better.

Just do what @Richard does Eva's Pride Peach Your listed as in Zone 4 so you might still have time to trim back before the season.

Limb spreaders are also useful in achieving a good open vase Limb Spreader Collection - Tree Accessories - Stark Bro’s

Dormant pruning will probably improve the vigor. That will probably heal fine without paint or sealant.

I’d cut the one leaning side of that tree off. You can see at the base of that tree, the bark is already starting to split.

That tree will never support heavy crop loads as it gets older. It will split at the “V”.

You’ll notice the v-crotch doesn’t form a collar, but instead forms a crack. That is an inherently weak joint. I’ve had lots of breakage from joints like that on trunks before I learned how to prune. I still get breakage like that on scaffolds where I don’t do all the pruning, but have help pruning mature peach trees (I prune all young trees myself because it’s a little more difficult to shape young trees than prune a mature tree.)

Since you’re in zone 4, I might wait till the weather is a bit warmer before I did the major surgery of lopping off the side of the tree. Maybe in another couple weeks? Give the tree a shot of nitrogen and you should start to see significant wound callus this summer. Don’t paint anything over the wound. The tree looks healthy and should heal just fine without it. Sometimes wound dressings on trees can cause more harm than good.

Lastly, I would kill the sod back farther than your brick edging. Another couple feet of dead sod would benefit the tree. Young peach trees don’t like to compete with sod.

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