North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>]

> Should you prune peach trees that have lost their fruits to the 
> freeze? There is very little hard data on this subject, but knowing a 
> little bit about tree physiology, I strongly recommend that you do not 
> compromise pruning just because the tree does not have fruits. Pruning 
> serves many purposes, including maintaining a balance between roots 
> and vegetative growth.


In my case (I was just one of the people asking about this), I'd already 
pruned everything in late winter/early spring. But when the freeze hit, 
it seems to have killed the pruned ends of the branches and trunk. At 
least, the peaches, Asian pears, and apricot are sprouting out again, 
but not from the end buds (which seem to be completely dead). And some 
of the branches of my apples look the same.

Following earlier advice here, I've started to prune some of these trees 
again, to cut back to a growing shoot that's positioned well. It's not 
easy to do with some of these (esp. the Asian pear that is hardly 
sprouting out at all), so I'm taking my time about it. We did get a very 
good rain recently, but they're talking temperatures close to 90 F - 
and, as usual, windy - the next couple of days. From one extreme to another!

Thanks for the info,

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5a)


--
It will yet be the proud boast of women that they never contributed a 
line to the Bible. - George W. Foote