site logo

Aged Peach Trees

Categories: Fruit Growing

What should be done with peach trees 35 years old which are becoming

unthrifty, bearing only at the ends of the limbs, etc.?



Old peach trees become bark-bound and need to be cut back to just above

the crotch for the forcing out of new branches, this being facilitated,

of course, by application of manure, good cultivation of the soil, use

of water during the dry season, etc. The peach is, under most

condi
ions, not a long-lived tree, and if your trees are 35 years of

age, it is probable that best results could be obtained by grubbing them

out and replanting with young trees on new soil if possible. The

profitable life of the Eastern peach tree is put down at five or six

years. In California the profitable life of the peach sometimes reaches

twenty or more years, if growing under exceptionally good conditions;

but 35 years would seem to be at least on the borders of decrepitude.

Growing at the tips shows that you have not pruned annually to induce

the growth of new wood lower down.



More

;