North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["C. Waite Maclin" <cwaitemaclin@me.com>]

Thanks to all of you on my questions regarding the care and harvesting of 
peaches.

By the way, I am having great success with a peach which I had John Bunker 
and MOFGA
help me propagate, named after my father-in-law, Lars Anderson. It does so 
well in Zone
5 and even 4. Waite Maclin
On Jul 3, 2012, at 5:25 AM, dwoodard@becon.org wrote:

> I was taught by local growers in the Niagara Peninsula:
> 
> Early peaches, thin to 10-12 inches, except for cultivars especially prone
> to split pits.
> Midseason (Redhaven - Vanity) 8 inches
> Late (Madison) 5-6 inches
> 
> I used to let peaches grow a little thicker on strong wood in the tops
> exposed to sun, and I would thin harder in shady parts. Row end trees can
> be loaded a little heavier. A heavy crop load slows ripening and increases
> the number of pickings required as well as decreasing size.
> 
> Remove peaches likely to bump twigs, branches or other peaches, or stress
> their attachment to the tree, as they grow and get heavier. Save the
> peaches that won't make trouble.
> 
> Doug Woodard
> St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
> 
> 
> Alan Haigh wrote:
>> Too many peaches not many leaves suggests a stressed tree.  Of course too
>> many peaches can be the source of the stress and fruit should be thinned
>> to
>> at least a 5" distance when small.  Mature peaches should never have been
>> grown densely enough to touch.  Rule of thumb as I recall is there should
>> be about 30 leaves for every fruit.
>> 
>> A stressed tree may not set fruit the following year and then grow
>> vigorously without the burden of fruit.  That is, unless the stress is
>> from
>> something else- such as soggy conditions or heavy competition from nearby
>> larger trees (peaches are particularly poor competitors in this regard).
>> 
>> Trees that tend to get broken branches are usually trees that grow
>> branches
>> of excessive diameter.  A  scaffold branch more than half the diameter of
>> the trunk at point of attachment is an invitation to disaster-
>> particularly
>> with peaches.  During first couple years of training such oversized
>> branches should be removed unless you want to rely on ringing a tree with
>> rope or using crutches.
> 
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C. Waite Maclin
Pastor Chuck Orchards
P. O. Box 1259
Portland, Maine 04104
(207) 773-1314