No, if anything pruning now will have the opposite effect. If you force new growth now, that will be even less mature than what you remove when cold weather arrives. The best thing for your tree at this point would be no more new growth. Mild water stress would help there. But in a humid climate you don't have much control. In general, don't over fertilize your trees.

The Fruitnut

I maybe said that wrong. I know I should not prune the new growth, but pinch off the tips to stop the growth. Would this get them to start hardening off. I would think that would help them get through the winter better.

I have not used any fertilizer on my trees and I have not watered them at all this summer and we have been fairly dry. I think they just like the North Dakota summers and soil here. I wish they liked the winters as well. That is why I trying to find a away to harden them off to go dormant sooner.

Thanks again

troman:

I really doubt that pruning, however you look at it, will have any positive effect. Sounds like you have a strong soil. That is not always the best for fruit trees but more from a fruit quality standpoint than hardiness. If you have a deep, strong soil, I'd only water in a real drought. If the soil is wet to full depth in spring, that will carry your tree through a dry summer.

I used to work with the sugarbeet growers in MN and ND. Some very good soils in areas where beets are grown.

The Fruitnut

fruitnut,

if troman1973 pulled the leaves off his tree would that start the hardening off process ?

i think maybe if u did that too early it may just leaf back up, but a week or 2 earlier than natural leaf fall maybe would be beneficial.

regards,
wildlifeman

wildlifeman:

Pulling the leaves early would likely make the tree less hardy. The tree needs maximum levels of carbohydrates stored in the branches to achieve maximum hardiness. I say leave it alone and hope for good weather; a gradual onset of cold and then uniform cold all winter.

A protective shelter would be the best plan. But that wasn't his question.

The Fruitnut

I thought I read on here one time that a lady pinched her peach trees the end of July to control growth. I dont want to even touch the new growth either, but I thought maybe I should. I dont want new growth to come. I will leave them.
The tree are protected by a shelter belt of trees.

Fruitnut, I dont live in the red river valley, but our soil is pretty good. I dont get as cold they do in the valley either.

Troman,

I now have 2 peach trees, one of which is a 4th year Reliance producing fruit, the other is a 1st year Contender.

My real gardening hobby is growing roses. Peaches are in the same family as roses so I try to carry over some of the same techniques.

The key here for you, I believe, is not to fertilize from this point forward in the season to help your 2 peach trees to harden off. With roses, it is helpful to water, and I suspect the same applies to peach trees if your weather has been dry. Roses should have some moisture during the winter or they can dry out completely. Here in Iowa we have sufficient snow and ice for moisture. Not sure about N. Dakota.

Finally, you do not want to prune. The problem as you are aware is that pruning encourages vigorous growth near the site of pruning, and that growth will not likely harden off for winter. I don't see any point to pinching new growth off. The new growth may live through winter but it may not live through the winter. Just prune dead branches in the spring if young fall growth is dead.

I think the problem you had this winter was that your peach blossom buds were frozen off by the extreme cold. I had no more than 40 - 50 flowers on my Reliance due to the extreme winter we had in Iowa. My limited experience suggested that the tree ought to have been covered in flowers. Out of the 40 - 50 flowers I now have about 20 - 25 peaches on the tree.

Summer pruning was not the trouble for you. Winter weather likely froze off your flower buds.

You suggest you have a bit of a microclimate. Let me tell you about my microclimate for a small bed of roses I have behind my office.

We have a traditional small downtown main street. I keep 5 rose bushes in a bed behind my office. The back side of my building has a southern exposure. My office is not as long as other buidlings on the block. Two buildings abut the alley, one of which is two buildings east. The other of which is three buildings west of my office rose bed. In other words my office is not the only short building. I have ample sunlight, but because my rose bed is inside this U-Shape, it is protected from much of the wind that dries out plants. I have a variety here that grow five feet tall and four feet wide, but elsewhere in town is a very small rose bush.

I also grow one large flowered climbing rose behind the office. I liked it so much I tried growing the same bush elsewhere here in town. No luck -- the other two died. Large flowered hybrid tea climbers are generally not hardy in Iowa.

The back of my office grows rose bushes like Zone 7. The bushes here get much larger than the bushes I have planted elsehwere in town.

So if you are thinking about what space you might grow less hardy plants in, including peach trees, consider the inside of a U that has protection on three sides from the effects of cold winds that dry out your plants and has southern sun exposure. Planting location for you is a key.

Thanks for all the help. I am not going to do any pruning. That is what I wanted to do in the first place, everyone has confirmed that. I know it was our cold spring that killed the flower buds, because last year it had flowers.

Mark: The trees are in a shelter belt that is protected from the North and West and they get southern sunshine, so maybe that is why they have survived. I have planted a reliance peach tree this year, kind of the opposite of you. I will be interested to know how your Reliance does compared to your contender. I have also planted a PF24c which is suppose to be cold hardy. I have finally seen now where a couple of garden centers are now caring peach trees in stock, so maybe there are some peach trees that will grow here. Good luck with your roses.

Thanks again for all the help.

Ask the garden center for the identity of the others who purchased peach trees in the past. If it is not a franchised store the owner may well know. Then you have a wealth of information available from someone locally.

Sounds like you have good protection.

As for my Reliance, I figure some peaches are better than none. I have an awful problem with canker on the trunk. Since I only have one producing peach tree I am inclined to see this one through a few more years, but I may ultimately cull it out. Perhaps I should get another peach tree to start a few feet away from it as a replacement and paint the new trunk in hope that the canker does not spread.

I must not have sprayed my new Contender as often as Reliance because it has some type of fungal disease on the leaves. I was not as motivated to spray it early in the season since it would not get fruit this year.

The Reliance was sprayed regularly and has fairly clean leaves. Is Contender more susceptible to fungal disease? We did have a lot of rain here which does promote fungal problems. -- With roses if you keep the leaves healthy they are more likely to make it through the winter and grow well the following year. You see I don't follow all my brilliant thinking with roses through to my peach tree. Live and learn.