Summer pruning a peach tree | Year ONE 🍑🍑🍑 Why & How to SUMMER PRUNE peach trees
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- Опубліковано 3 сер 2024
- Understand the importance of summer pruning as well as why and how to summer prune your peach trees and other stone fruit.
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When it comes to summer pruning peach trees and other stone fruit there are 2 very important things to keep in mind BEFORE snipping away. These are:
1. Young trees: here we prune for structural improvements and to increase airflow + light penetration
2. Mature trees: here you want to reduce the overall height of the tree to keep it manageable and also to reduce the number of branches to reduce fruiting branches to increase fruit size and quality
Useful videos + videos mentioned in this video:
Winter pruning peach + nectarine trees in urban gardens & food forests - • Winter pruning a peach...
Identifying and removing suckers, or sucker growth, on fruit trees - • Identifying and removi...
In this video we focus on a young peach tree that got its first hard prune last winter. In subsequent seasons we want to continue to build on the structure we have created and to strengthen up the branches to be able to hold fruit in the future.
The key things we want to summer prune to achieve are:
1. Remove all suckers growing from the base of the tree or the roots on the ground
2. Remove all new sprouts or fresh growth coming off the main stem/trunk of the tree
3. Remove all branches that are too close to the base of the branch
4. Remove all inward facing branches
5. Remove all crossing or rubbing branches
6. Remove any dead, diseased or damaged branches
There are different techniques to apply to mature trees, but with young trees summer pruning helps to strengthen the branching structure we are creating. From there on out, we start to focus on the trees height and size along with increasing its fruit production.
Video chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
00:38 - Overview of summer pruning
01:31 - WHY do you need to summer prune your trees?
04:15 - HOW do you summer prune fruit trees?
13:47 - Summer pruning recap
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#pruning #peachtree #summerpruning
Extremely helpful tutorial! Seeing the real-time examples of which branches were growing in the wrong directions and the reasoning behind pruning them was super helpful. I wish I had found this earlier in the summer!
Wow, thank you so very much for the kind words and I'm glad to hear this video helped you out, even if it was a little late in your summer growing season. There is always next year, right 😁 🌻
Great video!
Wow, thanks so much for sharing your positive thoughts with me 💚
Great video! I just purchased a peach tree and was worried about how to manage it. This will help enormously.
It is the greatest of pleasure and yes, every little bit of info helps when growing your own food. I am happy I was able to contribute to your knowledge base and I hope you get a bumper crop soon 🌻
Great tutorial 👌🏻 I have never pruned my peach tree in the summer but read about it last year and now I have step by step instructions on what to do. Thanks so much!
It is the greatest of pleasure and this is exactly why I am doing these videos as I really want to help as many people out as possible and I am so glad I could help you out.
Please shout if you got any questions and I would love to see/hear how it works out for you and how your peach tree progresses 🌻
Great job teaching!
I am in Phoenix, Arizona. USDA zone 9b.
What hardiness zone is your garden?
Thanks
I have 4 new fruit trees (one donut peach tree) and they have a lot of new growth. I now know that I need to "clean the chimney" among other useful tips that were demonstrated clearly. Awesome and helpful instructions!
Nice! Sounds like you are well on your way to some delicious home grown fruit 😄
I am so glad this video helped you and hopefully you are better equipped and feel more confident to tackle what can sometimes be a daunting task with summer pruning your stone fruit 🌻
wow .. many thanks
It's the greatest of pleasure 🌻
thank you
It's the greatest of pleasure 🌻
Thank you for your information. I’m new at growing fruit trees. Japanese Beatles I’ve been a problem in my area of North East, Maryland, USA. My Myers, lemon tree is 10 years old and in a pot . Our growing season is too short to keep the tree outside. This tree has very little problem with bugs. My fruit tree and peach tree we bought 2024, has awakened me about the pest that actually attacks those trees. Your information helps me and will help my trees as time goes by. I’m up for the challenge.
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me a comment and your journey sounds amazing, bar the bugs!
I am also thrilled to hear how you are experimenting with what works for you and that you use information, like my video, to help you find what works best for you.
As for Japanese beetles and other beetles, the best option might be to cover the tree in mosquito netting once the flowers have been pollinated. Because they fly, keeping beetles off fruit is incredibly difficult so for those guys netting is your best friend.
All the best in your fruit growing journey and please keep me updated on your progress 🌻🌻🌻
Thanks!
It's only a pleasure 🌻
Thank you ❤❤
It's the greatest of pleasures 💚🌻
Great share!!! Our peach tree is way overgrown, it did not produce fruit this year, and we must do a major pruning.
I'm so glad you found value in this video and good luck with your pruning! Hope it helps you get nice big harvests in years to come 🌻
If you dont thin the fruit on the branch to at least 6 inches a fruit your tree may exhaust itself fruiting and become alternate year bearing
Great info - I have young trees but have never pruned them yet but will have to but this video definitely gives me some level of confidence in attempting it.
I also noticed that you have various “goodies” hanging in your garden or in this case wrapped around the trunk. Is this organic pest control?…. 🤔 video 🤣
I also have lavender growing at the base of my trees - will this compete for nutrients & stunt my trees?
Thx 🙏🏽
What great questions you have here, thank you!
Firstly, I am so glad to hear that my video gave you the information and confidence you needed to give this a go.
Then, those little hanging things are my fruit fly traps. It's a type of protein liquid that only attracts fruit flies and its incredibly effective.
Then, Lavender is a great option for under your trees! They are not heavy feeders nor do they take up a lot of water and they bring in pollinators and keep the bad guys away. What you could do is plant some Comfrey or borage next to it as a soil improver to chop and drop the leaves a couple times a year. This will be a great combination for your tree 🌻
You can also clone those clippings and make new trees.
Yip, you 100%, however, most of the trees I have are grown in rootstock with certain characteristics that limit the size of the tree, which is ideal for smaller urban spaces, but yes, you can use cuttings and grafting to get more trees 🌻
So clear advice, thanks, going g in garde now to summer prune. Biggest problem is peach leaf curl. What do you use? Carol Huxley.
Oh nice! I love summer pruning and I hope you got some good pruning done!
For leaf curl the most effective thing for me is a dormant spray of lime sulphur. This will kill off most bacterial and fungal spores so they can't resurface year after year 🌻
Usually all I hear is to make sure to throw away the clippings in order to not spread any potential disease that may be on those branches. Something to read up on. Not sure which is better.
There is potentially disease in absolutely everything in your garden. You have a much higher chance of introducing new diseases from buying compost than clipping up your own home grown plants.
I am also not a fan of this advice because nature doesn't throw away it's leaves and dead branches. It's turned into highly nutritious soil with the soil and plants having stronger immunity to combat pests and diseases.
Not sure if this advice is for reads or views, but if you look at nature and follow what it does then you will be just fine 😁🌻
@@MySustainabilityJourney great insights! That's true about nature 🤔. That definitely challenges how I've been trained to think with pruning. Thank you for clarifying and responding!
@@maryfragiacomo246 it is only a pleasure and thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. I'm always looking to mother nature to answer my questions and look to her for inspiration 💚 happy growing 🌻
You really shouldnt appeal to nature here. Our peach cultivars are far from their wild ancestors and have many recessive traits that would kill it in nature such as over fruiting.
In a way summer pruning is really just imitating what would hapoen in nature if a tree produced fruit on the end of a long limb, it may break half way. So the tree adapts and keeps that limb shorter
My peach tree has that leaf curl. I sprayed it in the winter and it’s coming back already. Should I spray that copper fungicide in summer? There are no peaches again this year. That might be because I pruned the tips off in winter.
G’day, I have an apricot tree that was on deaths door when I first arrived 3 years ago. A farmer friend who recently visited says it’s a young tree. That plus the previous neglect is why I now understand no fruit as yet. It is growing quite tall and I have been thinking I must re-watch your earlier pruning video. Thanks for this one.
Q: it is very hot here (high 30’s to mid 40’s C) and will be right through to at least mid-March. Is it safe to prune (it’ll need a heavy pruning) now or would it best to wait until the temperatures drop? TYIA 😎🌳☀
@sandrasstitches6108 that's a very tricky and frustrating situation you are in. Having grown it for 3 years, it should be a nice big tree by now, but as you would have seen in my videos, pruning stimulates growth so you are correct in wanting to do a heavy prune and you will see the plant EXPLODE with new growth. Just make sure the growth is above the graft point, otherwise you will have big problems down the line.
In terms of pruning, yes, wait until late July/early August if you are in the Southern Hemisphere. I find that pruning as the buds start to swell (not open) reduce the chances of die-back as the sap is actively flowing, rather than a fully dormant winter tree.
You can do a pretty drastic trunk chop to start re-building the shape if you like, or just cut it back really hard on the branches you currently have.
I hope this helps 🌻
Any advice on how to keep the bugs from eating my leaves?
Good question and sorry to hear you are struggling with critters eating your leaves.
There are a few options, depending on what's causing the damage. If you have worm based problems then you can apply BT (Bacillus Thuringiensis) as that is a very effective and natural caterpillar option.
If you have other pests like scale, aphids or bugs then you can look at something like neem oil, or you can cover your tree with a mosquito net to keep bugs away.
Alternatively you can have other issues like ants or weevils and then adding diatomaceous earth around the base of the tree will help.
I hope this gives you a few options to consider, but drop me another comment if you have particular pests you want some insight on 🌻
great video, what about shrub cherries?
Thanks so much and to be honest I am not sure about shrub cherries. It's the first time I'm hearing about them so maybe we don't have them here. Thanks for sharing that you thought this was a great video 💚
Great video! I have 3 new peach trees this month. 1 is larger than the other 2. At what height should i make my first main branches? Im going for a more open growth, not a central leader growth. Ive seen some people start at knee height and others at waste height 🤔
Let the scissors do the work
Absolutely, make sure you have a good, sharp pear or pruners 😉
Ah, I'm so glad to hear you thought this was a great video, thank you 💚
The size you make your first cut, and ultimately where you want your first branches to come from, depends on the size of the final tree you want. The lower the cut the lower the canopy and the easier it is to harvest.
That being said if you have paths or tight space you might need to prune higher to create more hight to move, so there are lots of moving parts.
As a standard you want to go around knee height, but as I said if you need to regularly walk past it then you might need to prune higher as it will completely block the path in a few years time.
Personally I am favouring a modified central leader as the footprint is significantly smaller. A tree can be in full production within a 2 to 3m radius, whereas a open centre easily reaches 4 to 6m radius, which is pretty large.
These are all the decisions you need to take into account when making your first cut to establish your trees final structure 🌻🌻🌻
I'm new to this. Can you give this pruned branches away as cuttings?
Good question and thanks for reaching out! Unfortunately, no. Well, at least not in the traditional sense of cuttings. If you want to use them as grafts you could, but they need to be grafted onto specific rootstock with certain growth habits as their native roots are generally perceived as not being strong enough. I hope this helps? 🌻
@@MySustainabilityJourney thx
Is there a time of day that is best to prune
That's a really good question! I would suggest late afternoons just purely because during the day the plant in under stress from the heat. It also allows a bit of time for the cut to heal over before the next day and the sap flow maxes out at peak heat 🌻
Can you tell me about the “collar” around the trunk of the tree? Is it some kind of insect barrier?
Good question! Yes, that's just a piece of old bicycle tube that tied around and covered with grease/Vaseline. This is a highly effective pest barrier. It stops aphids, ants, scale, weevils and so many other pests from reaching the branches and your fruit 🌻
11:40 I would personally favor the 90 degree branch over the 45 degree branch and just cut it back to control outward growth and balance the tree. Is a 90 degree lateral weaker than a 45 degree lateral? I though WIDER angles are preferred for strength.
Hey, thanks for leaving me a comment with your thoughts!
Yeah, so a 45 degree angle is way stronger than a 90 degree and 90 degree branches tend to snap quite easily. As the branches tend to droop over time in any case the 45 degree angle provides a really good leverage and reduces the load of the dropping branch.
The other reason is the final height of the branch. 45 degree branches give more height so once the drooped branch has reached it's max drooping point it will be quite a bit higher.
I hope this helps and makes sense? 🌻
What month should I prune my nectarine? It is end of July in California and it just put out fruit that we have picked.
Hey! Thanks for taking the time to drop me a comment and what a great question!
I always go by the harvest date. I give myself a 2-3 window post harvesting the last fruit to do my summer pruning as the energy of the tree shift from ripening fruits to putting on new growth.
On more mature trees it's also this post harvest tip pruning that stimulates fruit buds to be activated the next season.
You most certainly don't want to prune why you still have fruit on the tree and not too late that the tree is starting to wind down for winter. You want it to still put on good growth post your summer pruning 🌻
Thanks for your reply! 2-3 months or weeks? Lol sorry I am new to fruit trees.
What’s that gadget on the trunk?
Good question! That's a fruit fly trap. It has a hormone liquid in it that attracts the fruit flies and catches them. This was my citrus fruit that doesn't get stung with those pesky fruit flies that leave maggot type worms in my fruit 🌻
I would like to know what the collar around your tree trunk is and what it is for?
Good question! That's a piece of old inner tubing from a tyre that I tied to the tree and covered with grease to keep ants and other critter from making it up the trunk to target the fruit 😉
@@MySustainabilityJourney thank you We have the same problem will try this next season.
You can still do it now to help your tree through the rest of the growing season when it's super hot and the trees are stressed. In this video I share some options that you can also look into 🌻
ua-cam.com/video/26ajdGQ7TUA/v-deo.htmlsi=83-ACfmoK6qE51OG
We just bought a new house and I have a white peach tree that has never been pruned or taken care of. It’s probably 18’ tall and the fruit is full of fungus. There is also a dead one right beside it which I know is sucking nutrients from the live one. I’m in Ohio. Any suggestions appreciated. 😊
Hello from the other side of the world 👋 That most certainly does not sound like an ideal situation! Without seeing pictures or more detail it makes it really hard to give advice, but what I can say works really well for all peach trees and stone fruit is a winter dormancy spray. This kills all eggs and spores that overwinter and become rampant during the summer heat. Lime sulphur is a really good option, but just make sure you follow the instructions very carefully and make sure the tree is fully dormant before using it.
@@MySustainabilityJourney Thank you so much. 😊
I have a 2-3 year old peach tree with unripe peaches on it. I pruned maybe 50% of its branches and was worried if I over did it since its June. Any thoughts on if the tree will be okay?
That's a good question that's a little tricky to answer without seeing the tree, but my initial thought is yes it's okay IF:
You removed unwanted side, internal and downwards facing branches. If you reduced the height of your strongest branches you are keeping and that you feed it a balanced fertiliser (not high in N) so that you give it more energy storage capabilities.
Also, have you thinned your fruit? That's still a young tree and at that age I would say keep no more than 2 to 3 fruits per branch limb for now. Remove the smallest ones and watch how quickly the others ripen. This is also crucial in managing your tree's energy at a young age.
Hope this helps 🌻
@@MySustainabilityJourney yes, thats exactly how i pruned it! I just learned today about thinning the fruit, so i will be doing that next year. I appreciate your help so much thank you for taking the time to reply. I feel much better
Great job, you should be good then and the growth where you want it. Once you thin your fruit you will see how quickly they ripen and how big they get. Wishing you many a massive harvest ahead 🌻
Before I pruned my peach tree (6 years old) it had had a huge foliage and lots of fruit owing to too much rain. Some peaches with some leaves (cca. 10) showed stigmina. Taking off half of the foliage caused all the remaining leaves and half of the fruit getting stigmina spots. So, the overgrown foliage acted as a sort of defence line against the bloody fungi. I will never do it again.
Oh no, that sucks, so sorry to hear 😞 I must say, lots of unplanned summer rains cause havoc for stone fruit and release so many different fungi and bacteria. I hope you managed to get some fruit this season to reap the rewards of all your efforts 🌻
Wish Europeans would get to the point! Instead of explaining for 8 minutes. You could have been cutting and explaining while pruning. You're not the only one does that. Most of the time I'll listen to an American instead of someone from Europe. You wasted most the vid explaining instead of doing.
Haha, you know South Africa is not in Europe, right 😂😂😂
You also know there are chapters that you can navigate to the info/sections you want!
Some people know very little and want detail and context, others want to the point. You cannot please everyone and with a 98.7% like rate on this video I will continue to provide content for those people 👌
Whoowww dude , you repeat you’re way to much and ramble. Bye
Bye 👋
Jees mate, you make it boring, please talk less and get to the point.
Almost 600 likes and 11 dislikes...I will continue to provide content to by far the majority of people that appreciate it 👍