How to Prune California Peach Trees

California peach trees benefit from frequent pruning. The pruning forces the tree to put more growth energy into its fruit rather than leaves. Pruning also reduces shade cover, which affects the fruit's color and allows for greater air movement to facilitate the application of organic or pesticide sprays. Effective pruning requires a sharp pair of garden clippers and should be done annually, once buds have begun to develop in the early spring.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Clippers

1. Cut back all new growth that points directly toward the sky or the earth below, snipping these shoots at their point of origin on an older branch. If these branches are allowed to fruit, the fruit will not develop properly and will shade other, healthier fruit.

2. Inspect the tree for damaged, diseased or dying wood, distinguished by its flaky bark and hollow texture. Remove these pieces by hand or with clippers.

3. Check for broken twigs that leave a wound, showing the tree's pale green interior core. Wound sites like this attract harmful pests, namely the lesser peach tree borer.

4. Trim overlapping branches to open to the interior space of the tree for air and light. This will improve the quality of your California peaches since peaches thrive on sunlight to concentrate their sugars.

5. Remove the wood scraps and trimming to another part of the property. If left by the peach tree, these scraps may attract pests to the healthy parts of the tree.

Tips & Warnings

• You will need to thin the fruit once it has started to develop. Allow only for a single peach per stem to avoid overloading immature branches with weight. The best time to prune California peach trees is after the last danger of frost but before the new fruit crop has begun developing. Aim to prune approximately 40 percent of the tree's branch mass annually.
• If peach trees are not pruned annually, they are at greater risk for disease and poor fruit quality overall.

References

• How to Prune Peach Trees
• Texas A & M - Pruning Peach Trees