Cynthia: Who doesn't love a big juicy peach?

Especially one fresh off the tree.

We are here to show you how to prune your tree so you can get that high quality beautiful peach.

Pruning is such a key component to making your fruit not only delicious, but your tree healthy and successfully for years to come.

How do you want or use this peach tree in your yard?

Are you just mainly wanting it for shade with a peach here and there that doesn't really taste good?

Obviously I have an opinion.

Or do you want to prune it well so that you can get a big beautiful peach that everybody wants to eat?

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We wanna hear from you and make sure that we are engaging and that we're building a community 'cause that is what Modern Gardener is all about.

Before we start pruning this beautiful peach tree behind me, let's talk about when is the right time to prune.

When you start pruning, you're waking this little tree up.

You're telling it spring is here, you're pulling it out of dormancy and you really need to be careful.

A good time in Utah to prune and kind of your safe bet for Northern Utah is March and April and southern Utah, it's January and February.

Sometimes you can push it, but it really depends on the temperature.

If it is below or in the low twenties to teens definitely don't touch your tree.

It does not wanna wake up and you can do more damage than good.

Now on the opposite end, you wanna make sure that you're not pruning too late.

When the blossoms are coming out, really it's not a great time to prune.

So just right as that bud is starting to swell, that is the sweet spot.

As long as your temperatures are okay, it's time to prune.

And welcome in spring.

Before we really get into this, I know, everybody just wants me to prune the tree, I'm getting there, just be patient with me.

We gotta talk about what kind of pruning type we're going for.

And with peaches or any stone fruit, you really wanna have an open vase.

And what that means is kind of like I always look at it as like an ice cream bowl, right?

You're gonna scoop out the center, take all the branches outta the center so we can get some light in there and open it up.

And the big reason is sunlight.

Yes, those peaches and those little blossoms especially when they're starting out, they need that sunlight to say this is where we're gonna grow.

And it actually helps the fruit taste better.

So sunlight is huge in making sure that you get into the center and not just the outside of the tree.

Here's the thing, pruning stone fruits, peach trees, apricots, plums, they are completely different from your cherries from your pears, from your apples.

That's a whole nother episode that we'll get to at another point.

Today we're just gonna be focusing on our peaches.

Our four main points of why we're pruning this tree, first, we are building the structure.

We are building the backbone and making sure that your fruit tree will continue to produce those beautiful peaches throughout the year.

This really starts when you first get that peach tree.

This is a tip, little tip.

You don't want to go for the big tree, I promise you.

You really want to start with a smaller peach tree.

And the reason why is that you want to have, as we're talking about the shaping, you want to have a smaller trunk.

You want the trunk to be about 18 to 24 inches before the branches start going.

And why is that?

You don't want the tree to tip over.

It needs a real sturdy foundation.

And having those branches low to the ground is the key for that.

I have a little peach tree that my son actually grew from seed, I never thought in a million years it would actually grow.

So I'm gonna use it as my example of what you wanna find or what you're looking for when you're buying a peach tree at the nursery.

So here's his little peach tree.

When we're talking scaffolding on a tree, you're talking about the branches that are going to be the main barrier, the one that is going to have all the fruiting branches later on in life, usually between three and five branches.

You wanna make sure that they're going at a good angle.

They're not going straight up and down, that they're going out, and that they're not crossing over each other.

So I like how this branch is going this way, this branch is going that way, that one going this way and probably would keep this.

And then do you know what I'm gonna do?

I'm gonna snip off the top.

Like this... (machine whirring) I know, I know the tree just suddenly got shorter and you're like (gasping) but honestly this is the best situation for your peach tree.

I know they seem scrawny, but these little branches are going to be the scaffolding of a new peach tree.

And notice that I am starting to create that vase like system that you want on those stone fruit trees.

And we're gonna go into how we keep that center clear and from these branches, once this tree gets a little bigger in about three years, we will pick off the fruiting wood.

This is really heavy.

I love you peach tree.

I gotta put you down now.

So when I start pruning the things I'm gonna start with I'm gonna start with my height.

I'm gonna look for anything that is dead.

I'm gonna look for anything that looks diseased or anything that's crossing over or water sprouts that are shooting up.

Anything that doesn't make sense, that's what I'm gonna aim for.

And then I'm gonna start pruning the fruiting wood.

I'm gonna tell you one way about why I manage my fruit tree and the height the way I do, I am more of a if I can't reach it, it's gone type of pruner because I don't necessarily want my fruit trees for shade.

I am looking for the fruit.

One other struggle you may have if you don't manage the height of your peach tree is that it's going to get heavier.

It's gonna get harder on those scaffolding branches.

And also it will crowd in that vase, that open vase area because those branches get so high.

When I talk about branches crossing over, I'm talking about branches that are rubbing up against each other or gonna run into each other.

And this branch is definitely doing that here.

So we're gonna say goodbye.

And then this branch, like I said, I want fruit that I can reach, and there are some parts that I may be able to reach.

We're just gonna start here and take off that first chunk.

Look at this branch.

So, this looks dead or possibly diseased, even though there's some fruiting wood hair that fruiting wood is pointing in a weird direction and it's really thin.

So I'm also gonna get rid of this branch.

I am going to cut.

This is very important.

There's a collar on the tree right there where it gets a little thicker.

You don't want to cut that off, it will damage the tree.

But if you leave it too long, if you cut here let's say for example if I cut here, that's a bad cut because that little nub is one gonna die and two, the tree is gonna have to grow over it and you're just making more work for the tree.

So we want to cut here real close to the collar on an angle so that the tree is able to grow over that.

So you can see this water sucker, obviously I missed it last season 'cause it's nice, thick and big.

It's not producing any blossoms.

There are some up there, but that again, the height is just not worth it.

Plus it's crossing over and rubbing on this branch.

So we're gonna get rid of it.

So this is a good example of a water sprout.

Yes, there are buds and yes, it'll eventually produce fruit but why we remove it is because it's going straight up and shooting straight up.

You can see there's more space in between it and it's just not going to produce what you want.

Now let's talk thinning your fruit tree.

It's a struggle.

It's hard to decide which branch is going to produce the most fruit, which one you wanna keep and which one will go.

But true, you can prune about 50% of your peach tree and keep it healthy and you kind of wanna do that.

So when you're thinning out your fruiting wood, you're gonna look for the size of a fruit wood that's about the width of your thumb to the size of a pencil.

If it's smaller than that, it's not gonna be strong enough to hold the peach.

This is a great example of some fruiting wood but you can see right here, it's a good width, it's red and then right here is the bud and that is where your fruit is gonna come from.

You can see how it's thicker than this bud right here.

That's just a leaf node where this is a little wider kind of is split into three parts and that is where the fruit is coming from.

That's what you wanna keep.

So there's a huge cluster of fruiting wood and I now I need to determine who's gonna stay and who's gonna go.

Anything that's going straight up, anything that's directly underneath or that just seems small, that's my first clipping.

(machine whirring) Also, anything, anything that you find pointing inward or that's gonna cross over with another branch, I remove those as well.

(machine whirring) Then fruit branches that I wanna keep on, I'm actually going to cut them in half just so that when the fruit is on this branch, it's not gonna break it off.

It just has to focus on that one little area and it makes it stronger.

So why are we getting rid of all that fruiting wood?

Because your tree, although it can make bushels and bushels of peaches, you really want it to just focus and put all of its energy towards the peaches that you're going to eat.

That way they get large, there's not a ton of 'em and they really, truly taste better.

Well, that was quite the haircut for this poor peach tree, but it needed it.

If you want jump over to our shorts.

We have a video all about my peach harvest and what I like to do with the peaches.

We're gonna do a follow up video so you can see what our peach harvest looks like on this tree later on this summer.

But that is it for Modern Gardener.

I hope you subscribe.

We'd love to see you and thanks again.

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