It's not time yet to trim and you can strip the leaves of buy hand now would be a good time for that.

You should trim your trees the second week of February or right at the beginning of a bloom.

Corey, I am not an expert but I have a very productive Tropic Snow and UF Beauty peaches, also a nectarine and if I did not keep them trimmed, they would be gigantic, too big for my garden and also for me to reach them. I did a summer pruning on them right after harvesting and I don't think I will do another pruning since some are flowering due to the warm weather.

Your tree in the picture looks good just make sure that you cut any crossing branches, your requirements are different than mine since you have more space.

Silvia

Thanks guys, I'll watch and wait...

Is stripping those leaves off important for dormancy or is it optional?

Don't strip the leaves, let them fall on their own. And wait until the first week in March before pruning.

You don't have to strip the leave but i have found it helps with mine

First week of March is to late from what I've seen from others. this tree will be fully leafed out flowering and fruiting by March... I'm leaving the leaves as there are to many and I have lots of other work to get done. Finally almost done with my chainsaw work...

We got one late last year. Don't know anything about them except to prune them to keep them from getting enormous. We also have 2 apples, one is Anna which is 3 years old and one we got late last year - Dorsett. The Anna only got 3 apples on it last year, hoping with the Dorsett there will be more. But my concern is this: even thought these are low-chill varieties, don't they still need a minimum amount of low temps to do anything? This has been the warmest Winter I've ever seen.

They do have a minimum chill hour but they just need to go dormant.you can trick them the 2ways i know is the ice trick.you pack the base with a lot of ice on the coldest week of the year.that normally in February.I've had good results this way. The other is a trick i picked up from a apple grower down by Miami. He had stripped all the leaves off of his apples in late December. I tried that last year on a apple tree that had never bloomed and come spring it bloomed but i got no fruit sense i have no pollinators

Very interesting Glenn, I thought about this trunk idea a few months ago and talked to a nursery guy about it and he thought it was possible but was unsure. I wasn't sure if the cold temps needed to be at the buds or if the trunk being cold would be enough to trick the tree into thinking its cold. I don't have any apple trees but I do have a couple of pears that I might have to do this with in a few years. I may even get some apple trees and try it out. Your the first person I've seen mention this. I wonder how many have tried this..

I've found it works on peach pear apple apricot almond and cherry

Glenn have you done this with all those listed fruit trees in Florida and if so , north, central or south Florida?

Also I assume you put the ice in some type of plastic bag that you can mold around the trunk? bottom one foot good enough? how many times a day you find you need to change the ice out? If the bag is sealed well I suppose so long as the water (melted ice) remains under 45 degrees you wouldn't have to change the bag.

I grew up in peach country in SC, and they always pruned in February before the borers came out. Peach borers overwinter in the tips of branches, so you have to cut them off and destroy them to keep the borers away. I always prune everything mid-February.

That might be to late in central Florida. I know of at least one Tropic Beauty that has flowers on it. With the warmth expected most of the rest of January I suspect many peach trees in our area will be blooming before February. We will see.

Corey I've done the ice trick to trees zoned 9a,9b,and zoned 8b.im a native Floridian and have only gardened in Florida. Mostly central but some north and south.the way i do the ice thing is I use 3 or4 blocks of ice I put around the tree on the ground then dump a couple of bags on top of that. Then cover with a white towel. I add more bagged ice every day for a week longer for zone 8 trees. I have did this trick to all of the trees i listed. Some thing a friend is trying this year is to add a small amount of fertilizer to the ice. I hope it works ok for him im going to wait and see. The idea is sound.

What would the fertilizer do? Prolong the ice? Very interesting stuff.

Give a slow dose of liquid fertilizer

I live in Florida for about 10 years, and in all this time that I have been gardening here and visiting other gardens in different areas, I never seen anyone growing successful apples, regular pears or apricots. In Phoenix I grew a very fruitful apples and apricots, the Ana apples were not of a good eating quality like different varieties in other states but they were good for cooking with them. The apricots were the best that I have ever eaten.

There is maybe somebody growing them that I don't know about them, but maybe some pictures will make me a believer.:)

I planted apples and regular pears, the apples were of such small size and no way to compare with other apples from other states, when I went to Monticello and sample the same apples, I took my trees down. The pears never produced fruit so I took them out. The u-pick farm near me has sand pears, they are okay but not my favorite....

The last try were the apricots and hybrids, never produced any fruit and they are out.

The peaches are another story, we have so much in such a little time. My neighbor has 2 different UF peaches and cannot keep up with them, too much fruit, he told me that I can pick his fruit and I declined because I had too much fruit on my own. He does nothing for the tree besides the trimming, he told me he uses Jobe's spikes and that is all.

The local farmers market which by the way is the biggest in the country, only carry local peaches, never apples, pears or apricots, those they come from California and other places, I am very good at reading labels and I try to support local farmers if I can....

I eat local and I am enjoying strawberries now, later I will go and pick the blueberries, we excel on the flavor of these fruits.

Silvia