Peach tree too loaded w/ little peaches

Peach tree too loaded w/ little peaches (post #12714)

Danno on Fri, 06/27/2008 - 00:07

Fruit and Berries

I usually hang out at Breaktime; sorry if this is one of those questions someone asks once a month (seem to have those a lot at BT), but:

My two peach trees are loaded with little peaches and I think if they all become big, ripe peaches, the trees will not be able to bear the weight--these "peachlings" are almost touching and almost cover the branches. Quite often wind and squirrels tend to thin them, but I am still wondering if there aren't too many. I have heard of picking the flowers off (too late for that) or picking the excess peaches off as soon as the fruit sets, but am afraid yanking 1" diameter peaches off may hurt the trees now (should have noticed sooner!). Any suggestions?

For some reason I am not being notified by Mzinga when people post replies to my posts, so forgive me if I don't read replies right away. I will try to come back every day to see what you all have said.

Thanks.

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by jeana in reply to Danno [original] on Fri, 06/27/2008 - 02:50

To get good size, you want to thin them if they're that thick - a lot. Just twist them off. Also, as they get near full size, it's a VERY good idea to prop the branches up with 2x4's. The weight of even a modest crop, especially if a thunderstorm should hit, can cause the branches to break. The younger branches are pretty pliant and will bend, but the mature, harder wood won't take a lot of stress. The weight of the fruit and wind spells broken branches on peaches.

Jeana Never try to baptize a cat.

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by Danno in reply to Anonymous [original] on Fri, 06/27/2008 - 03:11

Thanks for the reply--wasn't sure exactly how to remove the unwanted peaches. Last year I had to prop several of the branches of the trees up with boards. If I recall correctly, one tree is five years old and the other is three. I was surprised at how soon they bore fruit--have some columnar apple trees that are going on four years, I think, and they haven't even flowered yet (maybe I'm doing something wrong), but the peaches are going crazy!

Last year the yellow jackets ate about half of them--I had to carefully reach in and get a peach and let the yellow jackets fly off--I had at first thought that it was squirrels that were eating chunks out of them (sometimes half the peach eaten away!), but it was yellow jackets.

One peach tree is doing really well considering I cut a nearby ash down and of course it fell into the peach tree and broke the it in half--spilt it where trunk divided. So I duct taped it and left it for almost too long and the split healed and now it is fine. (The tape constricted its size right there, so for a year there was a narrowing of the trunk where it had split, but now it is hardly noticeable.)

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by smslaw in reply to Danno [original] on Fri, 06/27/2008 - 14:47

Peach trees need to be thinned. I usually remove about 80% of the developing fruit. There should be one fruit every 4-6 inches or so. Just gently twist them off when they are the size of a marble. it won't hurt to remove the ones on your tree, even if a little bigger. You'll get bigger peaches.

You might have to prop up the branches when the fruit get bigger, to avoid broken branches. I just cut a few crotched sticks from whatever tree in the area needs pruning and prop the peach branches with them.

I don't have your problem this year. I have no (literally no) peaches this year, after bumper crops last two tears. No flowers either.

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by dank in reply to Danno [original] on Mon, 06/30/2008 - 19:43

Thin a lot and provide what support you can. I wouldn't worry about hurting the tree; peach trees are about as vigorous as they come. Each spring I hack off about 70% of the tree and then thin 70% of the fruit, and the trees never miss a beat. I lost two branches in storms this spring after thinning, so you just have to hope you don't get any wind worth mentioning.

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by jimcco in reply to Danno [original] on Tue, 07/01/2008 - 21:30

Definatly hand thin to 7" spacing & remove twins.

Next year in late winter prune heavly and while doing it remove the fruit spurs to about 5-7" spacing; that is a lot faster tha hand thining.

Peach tree too loaded w/ little peaches