46 
PRUNING PEACH TREES 
A plan used by many successful growers is to take out some of the 
older wood each year, often cutting back two or three season's growth in 
the center of the head. Also a part of the new growth is shortened back 
at the end of the branches. However, the good side shoots along the main 
branches which have been forced out by the pruning should not be cut, 
as they produce some of the best fruit. 
Shortening back the new growth at the end of the branches not only 
stimulates the growth of the tree the following season, but it amounts to 
a thinning of the fruit, because the peaches are borne on this new growth. 
Orchardists often dislike to cut out so much of the bearing wood, and so 
they allow the tree to spread out more than it should. However, when a 
freeze gets the bloom, then they go in and prune very heavily, so as to 
^ive it a lot of new wood the following season. Also, if a tree has been 
injured by a very severe winter, it should be pruned very heavily, in order 
to stimulate the growth and overcome the bad effects of the winter injury. 
The exact amount of pruning depends ujjon the vigor of the tree. On 
very fertile soil the tree rhust be pruned heavier each year than on lighter 
sand soils. The main branches of a tree should never be allowed to get 
long and straggly, and, if the foliage is thin and the growth irregular, the 
tree should be pruned heavily to stimulate the growth. On the other hand, 
if the tree is pruned too heavily, it will throw out a good many long, sappy 
switches. The orchardist has to study the growth of his trees and prune 
according to their needs. 
Dehorning sometimes recommended that an old orchard be 
J 'r____ "dehorned;" that is, the old tops cut off, leaving only 
KJia irees tj,g central trunk and stubs of the main branches about 
1 foot long. This is a bad practice. Where it is necessary to cut back 
old trees very severely, remove the branches back to three or four-year- 
old wood, thus leaving stubs on the main limbs from 3 to 4 feet long. 
Renewal There is another system of pruning that is not generally 
p • known, but one that has been very successful on sandy 
iTUnmg gQjig along the Great Lakes; this is to start a system of 
renewal pruning. In this system the grower does not shorten back the 
new growth, but rather renews the tops of the trees in the same way. 
The first six or seven years the trees are trained as described above; 
then, as they get about seven or eight years old, the largest of the bran- 
ches is removed, cutting it off at the central trunk. When this is done, 
there should be a central shoot in near the base of the branch to take 
the place of the branch that was cut out. Where there is not such a 
shoot to take the place of the large branch, one can be forced out the 
year before the large branch is to be removed. 
An experienced pruner can shorten back a main branch and force 
out a shoot just where it is needed near the base of the large branch. 
We know of an orchard where the trunks of the trees are twenty-five 
years old and yet none of the branches are over seven years old, and this 
orchard is as vigorous and productive as younger orchards in that lo- 
cality. And other orchards that were planted at the same time as this 
orchard played out some years ago. 
In this method the new growth is not shortened back, although 
enough of the side branches are removed to keep the head open, and the 
trees are trained with vase-shaped, spreading tops, so the fruit can be 
picked from the ground. 
Thinning. It is necessary to thin peaches in order to get good fruit. 
As mentioned above, this can be partly regulated in the pruning. If a 
tree has been well pruned in the early spring, the thinning consists of re- 
moving all imperfect peaches; also, where there are clusters, taking out 
all but one, and thinning down the remaining peaches until they are 6 to 7 
inches apart. If the tree was not well pruned the preceding year, they 
should be thinned down to 8 or 9 inches apart, or, if the tree is not in 
