Hi there, my name is Neil. I am excited to share my knowledge about tree service with you all. My land is absolutely covered in fruit trees. Before I started providing the trees with regular care, they did not produce much fruit each year. I worked with a tree service professional to see if we could improve their yields across the board. My tree service professional eliminated pests and improved the health of my trees in a short span of time. The trees started producing fruit in abundance after that point. My site will explore the extreme level of care provided to trees by these dedicated professionals.
The most popular peach tree varieties all tend to be prolific producers, but their enthusiasm can do more harm than good when they aren't maintained properly. An unsupervised peach tree will grow far more fruit than it can actually support, which is why they require periodic thinning throughout the year. If your peach tree hasn't been thinned and is now overloaded with fruit, you will need to act quickly to save it from itself. These four steps will walk you through the process of both relieving the tree's burden and improving your final peach harvest.
Thinning the Fruit
Overloaded fruit will grow too heavy for the relatively frail wood of a peach tree and eventually break the branch. This will cause permanent damage to the tree itself and impair its production for the rest of its life, so it should be avoided at all costs. Furthermore, fruit that grows too densely will never reach its full size or juiciness. To avoid these problems, thin your peach tree until the fruits are about a fist's width apart. Keep thinning to this spacing as the peaches grow to maintain an even load on the branch.
Supporting Heavy Branches
Even once your tree has a more manageable load, its branches may still be weakened and vulnerable as the fruits continue to ripen. When in doubt, it's best to support any sagging branches rather than risk them breaking. Everything from notched boards to saw-horses to PVC pipe can be used for this purpose, but the branch should be shielded from any chafing edges. If you have more than a couple trees in need of this support, contact a tree service company in your area to discuss larger scale solutions.
Repairing Any Broken Limbs
If your tree has already lost a branch, it will need professional care to help the injury heal and protect the exposed tree from pests or disease. This is best left to an expert, since the tree itself could be at stake. Peach trees grow slowly and usually can't replace a broken limb, so more than one or two lost branches can be fatal.
Inspecting the Tree for Signs of Disease
Once your peach tree is properly thinned and no longer in danger, your tree service should also examine it for pests, disease and fungal infections. Overloaded peach trees must expend more of their valuable resources toward fruit production, which can leave them prone to other health conditions that can become more serious over time. With a clean bill of health and the right fruit density, your trees will enjoy a much more productive and prosperous harvest season.
Reach out to a local tree service, such as Gene's Tree Service, for more information or if you aren't comfortable tending your peach trees yourself.
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