How to care for a peach tree for a good harvest

Caring for peach in spring, taking into account the growing region

The first work in the garden in the south of the country (Krasnodar, Caucasus) is carried out at the end of winter - beginning of spring. The optimal time to start caring for peach in the Moscow region and other regions located in central Russia is early March. In the north of the country (Siberia, the Urals), work begins in late March - early April. Agrotechnical techniques for caring for peach trees are relevant for plants of all ages and varieties:

1. Sanitary and shaping pruning – to give the tree shape and improve yield.
2. Application of organic matter and mineral fertilizers.
3. Spraying to prevent pests and fungal diseases.
4. Watering during the growing season. Mid-ripening varieties are watered 1-2 times in the spring months, late-ripening varieties - 2-3. The work is carried out early in the morning; 10 liters of water are needed per bush.
5. Digging up the tree trunk circle, whitewashing.
6. Replanting young bushes.

To save the vitality of the tree, the ovaries of seedlings of the first year of life are removed. To avoid damaging young shoots, you need to use pruners or scissors for pruning. The event is necessary to improve the growth of the root system and stimulate strong and healthy shoots. The flowers are cut off from the grafted cuttings if they bloom in the year of grafting.

Important! Spring activities will help the tree recover after winter and begin an active growing season.

Peculiarities of growing peach in different regions

In order to have a good harvest, the heat-loving tree needs to be carefully cared for, even in its original growing areas. In Russia these are Crimea, Krasnodar Territory, the Caucasus and Kuban. In these regions, the peach has a classic shape and is allowed to reach a height of 3-5 m.

Attention!

The peach tree dies if the winter temperature drops to -20°C. Cold-resistant varieties can withstand -35°C for wood, but the buds lose viability already at -27°C.

What soil is necessary for the normal development of a tree?

Peaches can be grown in any type of soil, except sandy, saline and acidified. The highest yields are obtained from trees planted on moderately carbonate loamy lands. If the soil is heavy, to improve the nutritional properties of the soil when replanting the plant, the soil is mixed with humus (3 kg), wood ash (150 g), superphosphate and potassium chloride (30 g each).

The tree will not grow well on lands with a large amount of groundwater. An important condition for growth is the presence of drainage in the soil to prevent stagnation of liquid. When transplanting a peach tree, turf, crushed brick, slate, and crushed stone are poured into the bottom of the hole. The thickness of the drainage layer is 10 cm; during the replanting process, a mound of prepared nutrient soil is poured over the drainage.

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Type of soil for growing peach

When choosing a planting site, you need to focus on the type of surrounding crops. If fruit trees and nightshades have dark green, strong leaves and active growth, you can plant a peach. Low-acid chernozem and loam are suitable for it. To increase looseness and water permeability, you need to add sand. The soils must warm up quickly.

Attention!

It is necessary to fertilize with potassium, phosphorus, and calcium. If the latter substance is not enough, gum deposition will begin.

The groundwater level should not be higher than 3 m. When overmoistened, the peach roots quickly begin to rot.

Peach pruning in spring

In Moscow and the Moscow region, the event is carried out during the beginning of sap flow. Pruning is necessary to accelerate fruiting and adjust the balance between the crown and root system. The event involves the removal of diseased and damaged shoots; the main techniques are shortening and thinning. Work is carried out at air temperatures above 5ºС, in dry weather.

Important!

The wood cut must be treated with oil paint on natural drying oil or cement mortar.

Spring pruning speeds up the regeneration of shoots if the branches froze during the winter season. It is necessary to completely remove dry branches; damaged shoots are cut short - by 2/3 of the buds. The event is held twice - with the beginning of sap flow and at the end of May. May pruning involves removing shoots and branches that have not developed.

Protecting a tree from rodents in winter

During the onset of winter, a new threat to the tree appears - rodents. Mice and other pests prefer to spend the winter under the snow, and the crown of fruit trees suffers the most from this.

What to do to prevent mice from chewing on the roots in winter:

• First of all, you can cover the barrel with thick fabric and wire.
• Whiten the bark to a height of approximately 100-150 cm.
• Mice cannot tolerate the smell of copper sulfate, so the tree is sprayed with this substance.
• Treat the barrel with Bordeaux mixture. Mice also cannot tolerate the smell of this product.
• Mix mothballs and fish oil and coat the peach bark with this mixture.
• Wrap the lower part of the trunk with spruce branches (used to protect seedlings).

It is also important before snow falls to clear the area of ​​old foliage, which creates heat around the trunk and attracts rodents.

Methods and timing of applying spring fertilizing

Regular application of fertilizers promotes peach growth, and the tree develops immunity against diseases. Regardless of the age of the seedling, root and foliar fertilizers are applied in the spring. When determining the timing, weather conditions and the stage of vegetation are taken into account. In spring it is necessary to feed and fertilize the tree:

1. During bud growth, it is necessary to fertilize the soil with nitrogen. Fertilizer is applied in soluble form, based on the dosage: ammonium nitrate - 75 g, urea - 50 g. The combination of nitrogen and ash is unacceptable - ammonia is washed out of the soil.
2. At the end of May, potassium and phosphorus (55g) are added to the soil; complex fertilizers can be used.
3. Feed the peach with organic matter: humus, bone meal, and wood ash are recommended. Mullein and bird droppings are diluted with water in a ratio of 1:6.

Fertilizing is applied after digging the tree trunk circle - the activity is carried out to improve soil aeration and eliminate pests living in the soil. The earth is dug up at a distance of 1 meter, the depth is one shovel blade. When applying fertilizers, it is necessary to observe the dosage; for seedlings of the first year of life, the dose of fertilizing is halved. Excess nutrients cause excessive growth of green mass and negatively affect yields.

When to fertilize peach trees?

Throughout the year, not counting winter, peach needs to be fed with one or another substance.

• Spring is the period of awakening of plants, including trees.
  At this time, they especially need an abundance of nutrients in the soil and water. It is feeding the peach in the spring that allows the plant to quickly grow greenery, new, young branches, and recover after frost. If some part of the tree is frozen in winter, it is highly recommended to apply fertilizing, as it will allow recovery to proceed faster. Throughout the year, not counting winter, peach needs to be fed
• Summer is the time of fruiting, droughts, diseases and pests. Feeding peach in summer allows the tree to cope with an aggressive environment much more successfully and at the same time produce large, tasty fruits. It is believed that fertilizing directly affects the taste of the fruit. If you apply them correctly, the peaches will be sweet, juicy, and will ripen faster.
• In autumn, the peach begins to prepare for a long dormant period. Usually, all fertilizers are applied at this time only after the last fruits have been removed from the tree. Feeding peach in the fall is designed to support the tree after fruiting so that it quickly regains its strength. They also increase the resistance of the peach, strengthen its immune system, resistance to cold snaps, strong winds and similar disasters.

Peach transplantation, soil mulching

It is recommended to replant trees that are less than 2 years old - young seedlings have not yet taken root and will withstand the event more easily. The place where the tree will grow should be bright and protected from drafts. Low-lying and wetlands should be avoided. When transplanting peaches, follow the following sequence:

1. A pit for a tree is dug in the garden in autumn or early winter. A bar is installed in the middle of a hole 0.7 m deep; after digging in the soil, it should be visible 0.7-0.8 m above the ground surface.
2. In spring or autumn, the tree is dug to a width of 1 m and a depth of 0.1 m. Remove the seedling, avoiding damage to the rhizome.
3. Deepen the root collar by 3-4 cm, place the seedling in a pit, and cover it with earth. If the site has heavy soil, organic matter - compost or humus - is added to the top layer of soil. The mixture is placed in the center of the pit and a mound is made.
4. To make the tree take root faster, the tree is watered with Kornevin's solution.

After transplantation, care is required - watering the peach once every 7 days, loosening the soil. If rainy weather is expected, watering activities are halved. In order to prevent the soil from drying out at the roots, it is necessary to dig up the tree trunk circle and mulch the soil - cover the soil with old leaves, peat or sawdust. The optimal thickness of the protective layer is 10-15 cm. Throughout the season you need to care for the soil around the tree - loosen the soil, remove weeds.

Important!

When planting a peach orchard, it is necessary to regulate the density of the plantings. Dense plantings lead to the infestation of pests and worsen the harvest.

Organic fertilizers

For the successful development and formation of fruits, the peach tree also needs organic fertilizing. Their advantage over mineral ones is that natural substances are more easily absorbed by the roots and are completely harmless to the soil. Therefore, the recently fashionable and popular organic farming seeks to completely replace chemicals with full-fledged organic analogues.

Humus or compost is used to partially replace the top layer of soil in tree trunk circles or added in the spring when digging. Organic fertilizers are also good because they do not require any money to purchase. A compost heap, where weeded weeds, mown grass, food scraps from the kitchen, as well as manure or bird droppings are stored, is on the site of every self-respecting gardener. With proper care (watering, shoveling and winter cover), after 3-4 years this rotted organic matter produces an excellent natural fertilizer. The process of decay can be accelerated with the help of special biological preparations, the living bacteria of which promote the active decomposition of plant tissues and fibers.

Fresh manure is rarely used as fertilizer, especially for young trees, for fear of “burning” the roots. It is much safer to prepare an infusion: half a bucket of manure or mullein is diluted with a bucket of water and left for 5-7 days to ferment. After this, the finished infusion is filtered and used for watering in a ratio of 0.5 liters per bucket of water.

You can enrich the soil with calcium by adding wood ash when digging or adding it when preparing infusions. It is important to remember that ash cannot be used simultaneously with nitrogen fertilizers, since ammonia is lost during their interaction.

Recently, sederates have been used very successfully as organic fertilizers. To do this, rapeseed, lupine or oilseed radish are sown in the spring between the rows of peach plantings or under trees, and a month and a half after germination they are dug up, burying the greens in the soil. Gradually decomposing, sederates enrich the soil with essential nutrients, providing nutrition to plants.

Methods for preventing and controlling pests and diseases

Fungal diseases pose a danger to the peach tree: clasterosporiasis, monoliosis, leaf curl, and powdery mildew. Spring preventive spraying will help protect the tree throughout the season. If the processing time is observed, the risk of harmful substances remaining in the fruits by the time the peaches ripen is eliminated. The first measures are carried out after the kidneys begin to swell:

1. Immediately after the buds swell, spray with insecticides against aphids and codling moths.
2. After 14 days, treatment with a 3% solution of Bordeaux mixture against fungi is necessary.
3. Before the formation of ovaries, the peach is treated with fungicides (Horus, Skor) to prevent fungal diseases.
4. After flowering, preventive spraying is carried out with biological preparations Trichodermin, Fitosporin against leaf curl.

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To protect against scale insects, it is necessary to treat the plantings in the spring with Aktara, Mospilan or folk remedies - a decoction of wood ash, a solution of tar soap. During the period of bud opening, spraying with Chlorophos is required to protect against leafminer moths. Throughout the spring, it is necessary to regularly inspect the shoots; the affected branches are burned away from the garden plot.

A peach garden is a living harmonious system that needs protection from diseases and adverse natural factors. Peaches will develop and bear fruit if given proper care throughout the calendar year. Preventive measures will help strengthen the immunity of plants, avoid diseases and pests.

Frequently asked questions and answers

When should you not feed a peach?

After the fruit ovaries appear, it is too late to feed the peach. Fertilizers will have little effect on the quality of fruiting. It is better to involve the prevention of diseases and pests.

What happens if you feed a peach too early?

Do not fertilize too early, before the buds swell. Microelements will stimulate active vegetation and flowering. If this happens during a period of unstable heat, night frosts will destroy future ovaries, leaving the gardener without a harvest.

Is it possible to skip feeding the peach?

It is dangerous to skip 1-2 feedings in the spring season if the soil is not fertile enough or depleted. A lack of useful elements will reduce the quality of fruiting.

What will happen to the peach if there is not enough feeding?

A poorly fertilized peach suffers from weak vegetation, insufficient flowering, and there will be few ovaries. The lack of green mass affects the general immunity - it becomes more vulnerable to diseases and pests.