What are the advantages of the long-branch pruning technique for peach trees?

The long-branch pruning technique is currently being promoted for peach trees. Compared with the traditional peach pruning technique, which is based mainly on heading cuts, the long-branch pruning technique is a pruning method in which heading cuts are basically not carried out and only thinning, renewal pruning and long-branch training are used. After pruning, the length of the one-year-old branches is generally 50-60 cm. Hence it is called the long-branch pruning technique.

Its advantages are:

It moderates the vegetative growth vigor of the tree, favors the balance between vegetative growth and reproductive growth, and enables the tree to bear fruit early with high and stable yields;

It simplifies the pruning technique, is easy to operate and easy to master, and saves 1-3 times the labor used for pruning;

Fewer vigorous growing branches are sprouted, less nutrients are consumed, the leaf canopy is distributed reasonably, the light and heat microclimate ecological conditions within the tree canopy are improved, and fruit quality is significantly improved;

The one-year-old branches have a strong renewal capacity, effectively preventing the fruiting branches from moving outward and the inner canopy from becoming bare.

Branch retention density for winter pruning: retain 1 fruiting branch every 15-20 cm on the scaffold branches, with the spacing between branches on the same side at more than 40 cm, and retain 6000-7000 branches per mu. Zhang Cui