Some people call this method the 'Renewal System' because the gardener is constantly cutting out the wood that has just borne fruit and is replacing it with the young wood that will bear fruit next year. Those who adopt the spur system of peach growing cut back the laterals to within two or three buds of their base each year. Sometimes they aim at having goblet-shaped trees, while others have saucer-shaped bushes. Those who adopt such methods state that if you only prune peaches lightly you get weak growth and an early death.
There is no doubt at all that it does not pay to disturb the roots of peaches regularly. Therefore, one must sow the land down to grass quite early, especially as this fruit seems to make the least demand (of any grown in this country), on the soil water. Peaches can undoubtedly be grown on the straw mulch system as advised for blackcurrants or in small gardens could just be mulched with sedge peat, say, as far as the branches spread.
When the main stem is growing well, the laterals are cut back, starting with those over 2 feet long. In later years, the two-year laterals are cut back to within an inch of the main stem or at their point of origin.
The fruits must be thinned out when they are the size of a little cobnut, leaving them at about 9 inches apart. Some people do a second thinning when the peaches are the size of walnuts. It is seldom necessary to thin when peaches are grown as bushes, except the removal of one of each of the twin fruits. Peaches should be picked very carefully with the whole hand and not with the thumb and finger. It is ready for gathering when it will come away from the short spur without any difficulty at all. One of the great advantages of growing peaches is that they are hardly attacked by any pests or diseases other than Leaf Curl.
Mr. Maclean never prunes in the dormant season, because if he does die-back occurs. Pruning is done just before flowering and during the next few weeks.
Wires are provided, spaced 18 inches apart, trained against the wall or fence 4 inches away. The young growths are tied to these wires in position. A good specimen would be one which has oneyear-old growths about a foot long tied to the wires every 4 or 5 inches, in the space allotted to it. It helps greatly if special attention is paid to the trees in the summer. On the length of fruiting wood one can leave three laterals: one right at the base, one half-way up and one somewhere near the tip. The other side shoots that tend to develop in the axils of the leaves are pinched out with the thumb and forefinger as they appear. Then when the tree is pruned in the winter, the branch can be cut back to just above the lowest lateral, which then takes the place of its 'parent' and is in fact tied up in its place.
There is no doubt at all that it does not pay to disturb the roots of peaches regularly. Therefore, one must sow the land down to grass quite early, especially as this fruit seems to make the least demand (of any grown in this country), on the soil water. Peaches can undoubtedly be grown on the straw mulch system as advised for blackcurrants or in small gardens could just be mulched with sedge peat, say, as far as the branches spread.
When the main stem is growing well, the laterals are cut back, starting with those over 2 feet long. In later years, the two-year laterals are cut back to within an inch of the main stem or at their point of origin.
The fruits must be thinned out when they are the size of a little cobnut, leaving them at about 9 inches apart. Some people do a second thinning when the peaches are the size of walnuts. It is seldom necessary to thin when peaches are grown as bushes, except the removal of one of each of the twin fruits. Peaches should be picked very carefully with the whole hand and not with the thumb and finger. It is ready for gathering when it will come away from the short spur without any difficulty at all. One of the great advantages of growing peaches is that they are hardly attacked by any pests or diseases other than Leaf Curl.
Mr. Maclean never prunes in the dormant season, because if he does die-back occurs. Pruning is done just before flowering and during the next few weeks.
Wires are provided, spaced 18 inches apart, trained against the wall or fence 4 inches away. The young growths are tied to these wires in position. A good specimen would be one which has oneyear-old growths about a foot long tied to the wires every 4 or 5 inches, in the space allotted to it. It helps greatly if special attention is paid to the trees in the summer. On the length of fruiting wood one can leave three laterals: one right at the base, one half-way up and one somewhere near the tip. The other side shoots that tend to develop in the axils of the leaves are pinched out with the thumb and forefinger as they appear. Then when the tree is pruned in the winter, the branch can be cut back to just above the lowest lateral, which then takes the place of its 'parent' and is in fact tied up in its place.
About the Author:
If you plan your garden properly, even in a small garden it is possible to be self sufficient to fairly large degree.
0 comments:
Post a Comment