Peach Tree Pruning
The late freeze last year was devastating to our local peach crop. Let’s keep our fingers crossed this year that there are no late frosts and we have a good peach crop. No one loves fresh juicy peaches, peach cobbler, peaches and ice cream and so forth more than I do. However, peach trees are a very high maintenance crop requiring high levels of management, prayer, and luck. I often tell folks the best way to get those great fresh peaches is to go buy them from a local orchard, rather than grow them yourself.
If you do have peach trees it is time to be pruning your trees. The problem with pruning peach trees is they will start blooming the first warm spell after pruning, then you get a late frost and so long peaches. If you only have a few trees, it would be best to wait until pink bud to prune. If you have lots of trees to prune, then you cannot wait that long, and it gets to be a guessing game. Mid-February is usually the suggested time to start.
Why prune at all? It is recommended that you remove 40% of your tree each year to encourage new growth in the spring. Pruning helps to keep the peaches within reach for easier harvesting. Pruning will also open the center of the tree allowing air circulation and sunlight into the tree; this helps to prevent disease and accelerate fruit growth.
Here are the four steps to prune mature peach trees as recommended by Texas AgriLife Extension Horticulturist: Step One.
Remove all hanger shoots, rootstock suckers, and water sprouts in the lower three feet of the tree. This stripping of lower growth clears a path for herbicide applications and allows air circulation.
Step Two.
Remove all shoots above 7 feet other than red 18- to 24-inch fruiting shoots. Cuts need to be at selected points where the scaffold and subscaffold limbs extend upward at a 45- to 50-degree angle. Cuts which leave limbs sideways at a 90-degree angle should be avoided.
Step Three.
Remove all shoots which grow toward the inside of the tree.
Step Four.
Remove all old, gray wood in the 3- to 7-foot fruit production zone. Be sure to leave all the one-year-old, 18-to-24-inch red bearing shoots; these will be about the diameter of a pencil. If these shoots are over 24 inches, cut off about 1/3 of this fruiting branch.
Like when thinning peaches, it is best not to look down when pruning until you have finished or you may think you are removing too much.