North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Anton Callaway <marillen@earthlink.net>]

Jay,

I think your question was directed to Alan & not me, but since I was in the 
"To" field, I'll give a try at addressing it...

Yes, the 1st year growth is at the end of the 2nd year.  Except in a system 
that I'll mention in a reply to Alan, you wouldn't cut off >all< the 2nd year 
growth (& thus all the first year growth), but selectively remove part of it. 
 The rest of the tree would still have some older growth and some of the 
1-year wood with the fruit buds.

Anton
North Carolina


-----Original Message-----
>From: Jay Cutts <orders@cuttsreviews.com>
>Sent: Mar 28, 2011 10:46 PM
>To: Anton Callaway <marillen@earthlink.net>, North American Fruit Explorers 
><nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
>Subject: Re: [NAFEX] pruning peaches
>
>Hmm.  I don't quite get the picture. Wouldn't first year growth be at 
>the end of second year growth?  So if I remove all second year growth, 
>haven't I also removed all first year growth?
>
>Regards,
>
>Jay
>
>Jay Cutts
>Director, Cutts Graduate Reviews
>Lead Author, Barron's Test Prep Publications
>(800) 353-4898
>In New Mexico, (505) 281-0684
>10 am to 10 pm Mountain Time, 7 days
>
>
>On 3/28/2011 7:56 PM, Anton Callaway wrote:
>> I basically agree with Alan.  One minor clarification is that the 
>> stimulation of growth by summer pruning near harvest works OK for early 
>> ripening cultivars, but not as well for the late-ripening cultivars.  Soft 
>> new growth stimulated too close to winter will encourage freeze damage&  
>> the tree won't have sufficient time to develop fruiting buds on the new 
>> growth.
>>
>> Anton
>> Zone 8
>> North Carolina piedmont
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Alan Haigh<alandhaigh@gmail.com>
>>> Sent: Mar 27, 2011 3:39 PM
>>> To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
>>> Subject: [NAFEX] pruning peaches
>>>
>>> Here's a few things I've learned about peach trees over the years- and I 
>>> do
>>> manage a lot of them.  First, when they talk about peach trees only 
>>> lasting
>>> 10-15 years it's probably about commercial production where trees must be
>>> compact and produce largest fruit possible.  I don't know what the limit 
>>> is,
>>> but I've certainly seen 50 year old trees and managed trees over 30.
>>> Longevity depends on a lot of factors including cultivar, soil and other
>>> management issues, including pruning.
>>>
>>> The idea mentioned here as bizarre - that of removing all 2nd year wood
>>> annually is actually quite common in commercial production.  The tree can 
>>> be
>>> a single trunk or a V or shaped as open center but once the permanent
>>> scaffolds are set it's generally best to remove all, or as many as 
>>> possible,
>>> of the 2-year shoots and leave 1-years as replacements to keep the tree in
>>> compact shape.  The largest highest quality peaches form towards the end 
>>> of
>>> 12-18" shoots so less vigorous shoots should be removed if there are
>>> adequate vigorous ones to hold your crop.
>>>
>>> If you remove the largest suckers during the first month of growth and 
>>> then
>>> do some summer pruning about a month before harvest of each variety, you 
>>> can
>>> help the tree regenerate new wood from the trees frame so you won't need 
>>> to
>>> use 2 year pieces to carry your crop, which leads to a tree reaching 
>>> further
>>> and further up and out.
>>>
>>> It is essential to provide adequate water and nutrients to maintain good
>>> vigor for peaches and I suggest keeping trees mulched from competition 
>>> with
>>> 5-6' rings beneath trees.
>>>
>>> http://njaes.rutgers.edu/peach/orchard/bigpeaches.pdf      Here's 
>>> something
>>> that further explains part of what I've just written about.  They know a 
>>> lot
>>> about peaches at Rutgers.
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