Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Pruning Peach Trees

My peach tree got out of hand and grew much bigger than I wanted. This year it was loaded with peaches and a large limb broke and split off. Question is: How much pruning can be done without killing the tree? I would like to get it back to a normal size.

-- Bettie


Anne's Response:

Peach trees require quite a bit of pruning to provide good fruit and a plant strong enough to support the weight of a good peach crop. If you look at trees in most of the commercial orchards you will notice the plants are kept short for ease in picking fruit. They also have a broad limb structure so the fruit has maximum exposure to sunlight. The tree is pruned in late February; a good rule of thumb is not to remove more than 1/3 of the tree in any one year. It may take two years to get your tree to a healthy shape. Check with your Dept. of Agriculture' s Cooperative Extension Service for a copy of their brochure on peach trees for a good diagram of the pruning process for peach trees.

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