Your peach trees have probably been 'container grown' for the last week or two. Nurseries buy bareroot grafted stock in 100 tree lots and pot them up. When you go to plant your trees don't be surprised if the soil all falls off the roots. If you have any branch growth below the 24 inch(approx) that you will cut back to, and if they are spaced to be useable for future scaffolds they may be left but shortened to about 6 inches. Any other branches I would shorten to two inches. The object is to establish the trees in the ground and reduce the amount of foliage the roots need to feed this year. Most of us want to keep the eventual tree size small enough to avoid large ladders. Al

Nick,

There's a million ways to prune, i.e. central leader, open vase, Y, etc. It really depends on what you're trying to accomplish. But here's a simple method.

For open vase, if you want to keep the fruit as low to the ground as possible, start pruning for that now. The higher you start your scaffolds, the higher the fruit is going to be in the future. Pick your first scaffold at around 20" from the ground, then move up two or three inches and pick another scaffold pointing a different direction, move up another two or three inches and pick another scaffold pointing a different direction. Again move up another three inches an pick your last scaffold pointing another direction. Ideally you'd have one scaffold pointing each direction - N,S,E,W. If you only have three scaffolds, that's fine too. One of the reasons you want to put some vertical space in between your scaffolds, is because if you don't, the top scaffolds will eventually split the tree if they are the same height. If you can't find scaffolds that don't exactly point the directions you want, don't worry about it. Just drive a stake and tie a string to the branch to bend it where you want it to grow. Lastly try to pick scaffolds that have a fairly horizontal orientation to the trunk. You'd rather not have vertical scaffolds, but if you run across some you want to keep, you can also tie the branches more horizontal, if they'll bend. There's more that can be said, but that should get you started.

BTW- don't chop the tree down to 24". New peach shoots will not grow where there are no visible buds.

I believe in beginning with a central leader tree even if you intend to develop an open center. Peach trees trained immediately to open-center need to be crutched or tied for years to prevent fruit from breaking branches, which is OK except when you too long postpone doing it. Suddenly you're left with a 2-scaffold open center and no easy means of correction.

For the first couple years you remove all branches exceeding 1/3 the diameter of the trunk at the point of attachment to the trunk. This will assure a strong union of scaffold branches and a more compact tree. When the tree is higher than you want cut back to a weak branch. Also, remove enough branches to eliminate excessive shade within the tree. You can maintain it as a central leader by removing entire upper branches when they are too large (thick)and leaving young thin wood to replace them. Or you can select 3 or 4 scaffolds and gradually remove all competing wood and maintain the peach as an open center. On peaches, I prefer only 3 scaffolds on an open center tree- more room for secondary branching.

This advice has generally been embraced by Cornell and probably some other programs that inform commercial production and it has worked extremely well for me.

DO NOT train your peach tree to a central leader and it is not recommended by Cornell for home gardens as it goes against the natural way a peach grows. Unless you are trying to plant a high density commercial orchard, stick to open vase.

Please consult Cornell's guide to pruning fruit trees linked below for the proper way of pruning peaches. You need not worry about having to support the branches to prevent breaking. Proper thinning of the fruit will take care of that.

Your best advice for planting and pruning fruit trees is from your state's Extension Service. Most have that information online. And I would read nearby states advice as well to be fully informed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cornell Fruit Tree Guide for Home Gardens

Harvestmans right about leaving the central leader in the beginning. It helps to have a central leader for a season or two to keep the scaffolds from growing so vertically while the tree is not fruiting. Later, fruit will help to pull the scaffolds down.

The trees I buy don't have a central leader anyway, so I tie the scaffolds down in the beginning, so they don't grow so vertical. You can also prune to an outside bud and all that.

Well, we seem to have a disagreement. A disagreement about pruning fruit trees, who could have imagined? For what it is worth all of the previous posters are incorrect and I am the only one that is right.
Prune your peach trees in a "Y" shape with two leaders and tie these across to each other. Real simple. You can put your peach trees as close as six feet in this way.
You are only going to have a six foot fruiting zone in a peach tree so decide how much ladder climbing you want to do. Sun is what makes great peaches.

Jerry 43, from where comes your great confidence? I manage hundreds of peaches but I'll never be so confident in my absolute knowledge as you. Cornell sends out lots of pages from different people in their disorganized system but you should contact someone involved in commercial production and find out what the current understanding is. I suggest Mike Fargione. Starting with a central leader is a new method and I have used it succesfully for some time. Ever tried it? For decades now, I have spent six months of every year, every hour of every working day pruning fruit trees and I've probably got more experience with them than anyone you'll likely meet. Of course, I might be a total idiot that has learned nothing, even though people pay me $70 an hour to prune their trees.

As far as pruning a tree against its natural form that's kindof what we do a lot of. Have you ever compared a very old apple tree that's never been pruned to the ones we manage for fruit? It does take more skill to maintain a tree as a central leader long term but it's easy to start it that way. Apples don't naturally cooperate to this form either. Upper branches will always out grow lower ones because of greater light access. That's why you have to periodically remove the upper branches and replace them to maintain a pyramid shaped central leader.

Interesting, the Cornell Fruit Tree Guide for Home Gardens
has Seneca listed as a recommended Asian plum. It is a European. Cornell released it as a named variety in 1972. There's a mistake you would not expect.

Harvestman, my great confidence comes from 30 years of giving pruning demonstrations to commercial and home growers through the Extension Service. Also putting in research trials for training all types of tree fruits. Plus 15 years of pruning my own direct market peach orchard.

I've seen plenty results of poorly implemented central leader peach trees. It is far easier for the backyard grower to maintain an open center tree. Which was the point I was trying to make.

You've seen the results of many poorly implemented central leader peach trees? Hmmm, you would'nt be exagerating to make a point, would you Jerry? My whole business is growing bearing age fruit trees in my nursery, installing and managing other peoples orchards (often already growing when I'm hired) and I don't believe I've ever come across a peach tree trained this way that I didn't build. Maybe people are more experimental in your region.

There's nothing complicated about training any tree to a central leader as long as you don't let the upper tiers outgrow the lower. I admit most homegrowers probably won't manage to do this but fruit trees are generaly mismanaged by the casual grower however they train them.

At any rate, if a beginner follows my advice and eliminates all potential scaffold branches more than about a third the diameter of the trunk at the point the branch is connected to the trunk they will avoid the most common mistake of inexperienced pruners. Scaffolds with excessive vigor tend to break.

I've seen many commercial peach orchards with lots of broken scaffolds even though the peaches were thinned. How often have you seen a beginner manage to adequately thin a peach tree? Even a properly thinned peach tree often will have branches straining under the weight of its fruit.

And now I'd like Geraldo to explain more clearly his V trellis. I've seen photos of commercial orchards trained to a V but Geraldo's description was a bit confusing to me, sounded like he was pulling the branches across each other.

Not V, but Y. and not pulling them toward each other but using one to keep the other from breaking off. Actually strapping tape is best for this. It doesn't cut into the limbs. I also have started to tie these limbs to a bamboo stake. The bamboo stakes are the "arms" of the Y.
I currently have about five acres of peaches at about 240 per acre. That is about 1250. Since I have done this for almost forty years I too have pruned a lot of peach trees. My father would never have pruned a peach to a CL. I started to leave the CL in the '80s. After about three or four years we cut out the CL. But now we plant with the Y. Quicker production, easier and cheaper pruning, less ladder work.
I am a commercial grower and it costs me about $1.50 per hour in state industrial insurance if someone climbs a ladder. The people can pick more per hour so work for less, etc. etc. Farming is changing a lot. Actually these will be the last peaches I plant. There are too many people getting into direct marketing at the farmer's markets. The pie is being cut too small. It was good while it lasted. Too much work for too little return.

Geraldo,yeah, that makes sense. For the home orchards around here I'm best originally training my trees to a central leader so I have some straight trunk to ring with alluminum flashing to keep the coons and possums off. On most sites I manage I gradually train them to an open center because they have plenty of room and it's a little easier than maintainig as a central leader if I don't do any summer pruning. I also often have to have enough height to keep them above the deer.

On my own property I find a central leader tree is easiest to grow peaches without crutches or rope, though with your shape I might accomplish my goal with even less work. Just one simple tie. Don't think it will look as pretty though.

I have read of CA orchards securing 4 scaffolds with a single piece of rope but you can't grow a very spreading tree this way.