 Re: Peach prune!
Azrael, I agree with almost all of your recommendations except the staking part. It is odvious by the new growth that the root structure is strong, staking at this time would probably only cause wounds where the stake holding material touches the bark. The second thing would be to get some mulch on, the purpose for the mulch would be to decrease the evaporation. It has been our experiance here that stone and stone work raise the temperature significantly. Hopefully the mulch will act as an insulator to keep the exposed soil cooler.
If you didn't have to remove so many lower lateral limbs that are useless, now would be the time to establish the branch structure. As Azrael said, there are too many limbs at ground level. Fruit trees that are established can tolerate harsher pruning, But I wouldn't remove any more than 30% of the live crown. There are going to be a lot of pruning wounds near the base of the tree, which might impact the final outcome and survival of the tree. At best, I think you will end up with a codominant tree, not all bad, as long as your aware the it will have to be kept compact so there isn't too much stress at the union of the main stems ( even more critical with large fruit set).
We use kind of a simple rule for pruning fruit trees in our area, remove DEAD, DISEASED, DAMAGED, CROSSING and COMPETING laterals first, and if you haven't pruned more than 30%, prune for height and structure (ie. arrangement of permanent laterals at 12, 4, and 8 o'clock). Don't forget that its occasionally advisable to leave some temporary laterals in place, these can be removed later.
On second thought, go with what Azreal said, I am positive he said it correctly, I am more of a doer that a talker.
Good luck and happy pruning! |