How to Prune Georgia Peach Trees

Prune your peach in late winter, well before flowers break.

Any peach tree, regardless of its variety name, can be called a "Georgia peach" as long as it physically grows in the Empire State of the South. Pruning is an annual, late-winter task needed to tidy the peach tree and prepare it for a good flowering on well-structured branches. Peach trees grown in full sunshine and in a moist, fertile, well-draining soil grow with health and can survive for decades, yielding bushels of fruits for pies, preserves or fresh snacks.

Things You'll Need

• Hand pruners (secateurs)
• Wheelbarrow
• Fabric gloves

Instructions

1. Gather the hand pruners and wheelbarrow and take them to the tree. Consider using fabric gloves if it's a cool day or you don't want any scrapes on your hands during the task. Collects the pruning twig debris in the wheelbarrow for ease of removal later on.

2. Examine the peach tree that needs pruning in very late winter. Look for vigorous, upright branches called watersprouts. Remove these vertical whip-like twigs from all over the tree, making a cut with the hand pruners 1/4-inch above their attachment to a lower branch or trunk on the peach tree. Toss debris into the wheelbarrow.

   Branches that remain should be more horizontal and structured in their appearance, with tiny swelling buds.

3. Look for any dead and diseased branches in the tree. Dead branches and twigs will look gray and be brittle. Diseased types will be discolored, carrying wounds, strange growths, webs or larval insects. Make each pruning cut 1/4-inch above the branch's junction with a lower, healthy branch. Consider placing diseased debris in a separate pile, as you will not want to place this in your compost pile.

4. Remove any broken twigs or branches, too. Again, make the cut 1/4-inch above the point where the damaged twig meets a main branch or trunk. Take care as you work in the tree, too, so your movement does not add to the number of snapped, healthy branches in the peach tree.

5. Prune away any remaining branches in the peach tree canopy that are rubbing against each other or growing awkwardly across the center of the tree. Wind exacerbates rubbing wounds on twigs and branches, so remove them promptly to avoid later issues. Removing inward-growing branches promotes good penetration of sunlight and air into the crown of the peach tree so that all main branches remain healthy.

6. Gather all healthy debris in the wheelbarrow and place in or on your compost pile. Diseased twigs and branches should be thrown in the trash or located in a refuse pile far from the orchard and burned, ideally.

Tips & Warnings

• Proper pruning in late winter, although seemingly removing fruit-producing twigs, allows for higher quality production of fruit later, in spring and early summer.

• Once small fruits develop after flowering, thin out the peaches so that there is only one peach every 4 to 6 inches. This evenly distributes weight on the branch as well as promoting better size, shape and flavor among fewer fruits across the peach tree.

• Do your annual pruning well before the flowers open in February and early March. Pruning is done earlier in southern Georgia than in the higher elevations around the Tennessee border.

• Peaches flower and fruit from year-old twigs. Don't prune away healthy, young, well-spaced twigs that grow horizontally from main branches.

• If you are pruning several peach trees, consider spraying the pruner blades with rubbing alcohol in-between trees, or after you prune off diseased branches. This kills any pathogens and prevents inadvertently spreading them between trees in your orchard via the pruners.

References

• University of Georgia Cooperative Extension: Simple Tree Training Technique for Peaches
• North Carolina Cooperative Extension: How to Prune Peach Trees
• Clemson Cooperative Extension: Pruning Peaches & Nectarines