What to Pay Attention to When Long-Shoot Pruning Peach Trees

Long-shoot pruning of peach trees is a new peach pruning technique that has been promoted and applied in recent years. It mainly uses thinning and long-shoot training, with very little heading back. Using this technique can make the tree upright and vigorous, with early fruiting, excellent quality, and high yield. However, in practical application, peach growers in various regions have not mastered the key points of this technique well and therefore have failed to achieve the desired results. To this end, we summarized the problems existing in production and, combined with practice, put forward some countermeasures for reference.

1. Main branch pruning

1. Incorrect selection of main branches. In open-center tree forms with two or three main branches, the main branches selected and retained on the trunk are opposite each other or too close together, and after fruiting they are prone to splitting. Countermeasure: The main branches selected and retained on the trunk should be adjacent, with a spacing of 15-20 cm.

2. Main branch angle too large. If the main branch angle is too large, the main branches will droop after fruiting, fruit quality will decline, and field operations will be difficult. Countermeasure: The main branch angle should be small rather than large, and the branching angle should preferably be 40-45 degrees, so as to quickly occupy the upper space and increase branch volume.

3. Pruning of the main branch extension head too light. In winter pruning each year, if the main branch is cut and retained too lightly, the main branch becomes longer and its taper decreases. After bearing a large amount of fruit, the main branch opens up and droops, failing to achieve the goal of three-dimensional fruiting. Countermeasures: First, during the training period, the main branch extension head should be headed back at well-developed plump buds; second, for mature trees whose main branches have already opened up and whose angles have become larger, branches should be tied or propped to maintain an upright and vigorous tree form.

2. Arrangement of side branches

1. Side branches arranged too close together, forming a bottleneck and causing the main branch head to become thin and weak. Countermeasure: The arrangement of side branches on the main branch requires a spacing of 60-80 cm between side branches, and the first side branch on each main branch should be arranged in the same direction. At the same time, keep the first side branch 60-80 cm from the trunk, the second side branch 60-70 cm from the opposite side of the first side branch, and the third side branch 50-60 cm from the opposite side of the second side branch.

2. Improper orientation of retained side branches, disrupting the tree form. Countermeasure: The side branches on the main branch should be selected from the secondary shoots growing obliquely downward that emerge from the 3rd and 4th buds below the main branch extension head.

3. No side branches on the main branch. Countermeasure: Appropriately carry out heavy renewal pruning, suppressing the front and promoting the rear, to encourage the growth of secondary shoots at the rear, so as to use strong branches with good orientation as side branches and increase fruiting sites.

3. Pruning of bearing branch groups

1. Improper selection and retention of too many bearing branches, causing the tree canopy to become crowded. Countermeasure: During winter pruning, remove all bearing branches longer than 60 cm and diseased or pest-damaged branches, and retain vigorous branches about 30 cm in length. On scaffold branches and large branch groups, retain one bearing branch every 15-20 cm, with a thickness of 0.3-0.5 cm. The total number of retained branches for the whole tree should be 50%-60% of that under traditional pruning methods, with about 5,000 branches per mu. Mainly retain oblique-growing and horizontal branches.

2. Bearing branch groups too large, making renewal of bearing branches difficult. Countermeasure: The length of bearing branch groups should preferably be within 1 cm, and the tip should be trained in an acute triangle shape, renewed once every 3-4 years; bearing branches should use fruit to suppress the branch. Encourage the base to sprout 1-2 vigorous branches to be trained as renewal branches.

4. Removal of water sprouts

For water sprouts growing upright in the inner canopy or on main branches, most are completely removed. Although this improves ventilation and light penetration, excessive removal causes the loss of many leaves with high photosynthetic efficiency, reducing the production and accumulation of nutrients, and at the same time, high summer temperatures can easily sunburn the bark on the upper side of scaffold branches. Countermeasures: First, retain a small number of water sprouts and train them into bearing branch groups; second, for old trees, the renewal of main and side branches can be carried out by gradual retrenchment year by year or by one-time replacement using large water sprouts; third, if the heads of main and side branches are too low and their growth vigor is weak, vigorous water sprouts can be used to raise the angle.