Pruning the compost peach tree?

13 years ago

So my learning experience continues with the compost heap peach tree. I pruned it nicely before flowering in the early spring. What was left had tons of blossoms, but only two branches seemed to set fruit. I did not see any bees until most of the blossoms had dropped- weather too crazy for them? Fast forward to now: it seems like every bud along the branches has turned into new growth of branches so that my nicely opened center looks like some crazy, hairy monster. I can see why these trees die young if that's the way they grow! Also I think 95% of the peaches fell off and the remaining ones have little holes with clear globs of hardened sap. Probably not a good sign.

So, how do I prune this thing now? It's like the greek hydra, sprouting 10 new branches for every one removed. Also, I've seen people talk of bagging apples, can you do that for peaches too? What do you use? Cheers!

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Comments (7)

sunnibel7 Md 7
Original Author
13 years ago
Bump

Some crazy amount of posting on this forum has moved my thread to the second page without anyone responding. Please help :)
murkwell
13 years ago
You'll probably get more specific and helpful responses if you post some pictures.
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Scott F Smith
13 years ago
Just get out the pruners and go to it. Pruning can be done 365 days a year in our climate. I always have pruners when I am in the orchard and when I see a problem I fix it.

The sticky goo is probably OFM. Or, sometimes PC do a bit of that. Carefully crack open one of the fruits and look for a worm. Put it on your hand. If it crawls its an OFM if not its a PC. Destroy all infested fruits. Plan on your spray program for next year.

Immature peach trees grown from seed often drop a lot. Also the quality gets better as the tree gets older.

Scott
sunnibel7 Md 7
Original Author
13 years ago
Scott, thanks. I guess I'm not sure how much to take off and how much to leave. It seems so much simpler in winter. Do you think the fruit could be bagged rather than sprayed, effectively? It's too near the garden which needs to remain organic. Unless there is an effective organic spray?

I'll try to remember to nip out there and snap a picture, the heat is so much that I have limited stamina outside until I get more used to it. I'm having to pick and choose my chores a lot this week.
sunnibel7 Md 7
Original Author
13 years ago
Ok, here's a picture. Frankly, it's so dense you can't see anything to point out where to start. Maybe if someone has a picture of what a peach tree should look like at this time of year it would help me visualize better?

Cheers!

Dagnabit! I do not know why it persists in posting my photos upside down. They are oriented right on my ipad.
whd23
13 years ago
> Dagnabit! I do not know why it persists in posting my
> photos upside down. They are oriented right on my ipad.

Because you're taking the pictures upside down. I downloaded your picture and dumped the EXIF data: the iPad is recording a camera orientation of '3' in the image's EXIF data. This information can be used by a display program to rotate the picture to the proper viewing orientation, which is what the iPad is doing automatically for you, thereby masking the fact that the picture is upside-down to begin with.

Note that you might not actually be holding the iPad upside-down but at an angle such that the tilt sensor "thinks" it is upside-down. Try holding the iPad with the display as perfectly perpendicular to the (level) ground as possible and see if you still have a problem.

Here is a link that might be useful: EXIF orientation information
sunnibel7 Md 7
Original Author
13 years ago
Well, I was rather hoping more for info on the peach tree than the photo ;)

Thanks, really. I'm left more confused. I have my iPad's roation locked, have since I got it (the endless flipping around is just annoying I think). I would think it wouldn't be noting any rotation in that state. I'll experiment later to see if I can flip it over and lock rotation that way, but then it means my protective cover was designed upside down. Or maybe I'll just try taking the photos upside down. It only seems to matter when I post here, they always share properly oriented.