Therefore, avoid pruning before late February and before predicted low temperatures. Pruning temporarily reduces a tree's tolerance to low temperatures. If light becomes limited, the fruiting zone will move higher above the ground with little fruiting in the lower portion of the tree.īoth dormant and summer pruning are used to maintain optimum light conditions within a tree canopy.ĭormant pruning is used to remove upright and vigorous shoots that shade the tree interior to limit the size of the tree and to remove excess fruiting shoots. The ring shaped fruiting zone is about four feet wide and four feet deep. The fruiting zone of an open center tree can be thought of as a doughnut supported by scaffold branches. Light penetrates only about three or four feet into the tree canopy. Leaves intercept light and the biochemical reaction, called photosynthesis, light energy is used to produce carbohydrates that are used for growth of all parts of the tree.
This more uniform architecture is adaptable to tighter in row tree spacings, which can result in improved yields for the first several years and increased opportunities for mechanization. The natural tree form of a standard type peach tree is a vase shape making it easy to train trees to an open center system with three or four primary scaffold branches.Ī modification of the vase is a V shape with two to four scaffold branches. However, with judicious pruning, standard trees can be maintained at a height of seven or eight feet. The lack of suitable dwarfing rootstocks limits the extent of orchard intensification. Peach trees are pruned to maintain tree size and shape and to help manage light and crop load.
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