Peaches from your own garden can sweeten the summer. We show you what to consider when planting, pruning and buying peach trees.
Originally from Asia, the peach (prunus persica) was already a well-known fruit tree in the Mediterranean region in the Middle Ages and finally found its way into the Mediterranean region more and more in the 19th century German gardens. This heat-loving fruit tree species not only impresses with numerous variations and varieties, but can also thrive in the home garden with the right care.
Hardly any other fruit is as much a part of summer as the peach. With its sweet taste and juicy flesh, it is perfect for the hot season. You don't have to fly in peaches from the south, you can simply grow them yourself in the garden. In this article you will learn everything - from planting to pruning a peach tree.
Peach Tree: A Wanted Poster
The peach originally comes from China, but found its way to the aristocratic courts in the Mediterranean region and finally also to German gardens as early as the Middle Ages. Here it is valued above all for its sweet fruits, but also for its biodiversity. Depending on the variety, the peach can grow between one meter (dwarf peach) and an impressive eight meters high.
In Germany, however, it only grows to an average height of three to four meters, but with the right care it can live up to 25 to 40 years. Depending on the variety, the peach develops its pink blossoms in March or April. Its fruits are then ready for harvest between July and September. The peach tree bears these after one to two years. The peach likes full sun, warm locations where it is sheltered. The soil here should preferably be loose and rich in humus, ideally loamy to sandy.
Buy a peach tree: This is what you need to know
So a peach tree in the gardenthrives well and does not die, you should pay attention to a few special features when buying and selecting the trees. Firstly, choosing the right strain is essential for a good harvest. In Germany, a hardy variety of the otherwise heat-loving peach should be chosen, such as 'Pilot' or 'Amsden'. On the other hand, late-ripening varieties, such as the vineyard peach, should only be cultivated in typical wine-growing regions in southern Germany, otherwise there is a risk of crop failures due to early frost. When choosing, you should also pay attention to the disease resistance of the trees, there are now a large number of varieties that are largely immune to diseases such as leaf curl.
The soil conditions are also important for a good yield, so there are varieties that can grow well on dry soil and varieties that can grow on moist soil. Therefore, before making a purchase, seek advice from a suitable specialist.
Plant Peach Tree
After purchasing a peach, you can plant it in a suitable spot in your garden. The ideal time for planting the tree is in autumn. This allows the trees to acclimatize to their new location before they sprout for the first time. Alternatively, it can also be planted in spring as soon as frost-free soil allows it. It is important to ensure that the risk of late frost is as low as possible, as this can cause serious damage to young trees. The most important thing when planting is the right location for your tree.
Peach Tree: Suitable Location
The peach is a warmth-loving plant that thrives particularly well in full sun. Locations exposed to the cold north or east winds are not suitable, nor are regions that regularly experience late spring frosts. Suitable soil for the peach is rich in nutrients and humus, but low in lime. Slightly loamy soil in particular is well suited for growing peaches, but sandy soil can also become a good location for the tree by adding humus. Heavy soils, on the other hand, should be generously loosened before planting.
In addition to the soil quality, attention should also be paid to the water balance. The peach does not tolerate waterlogging, but if it gets too dry, it often only bears small fruits and loses them early. Since the peach does not have a competitive root system, care should be taken to fill the tree with enoughPlant away from other trees and shrubs. As a rule of thumb, the distance of half a growth width to the nearest tree should be considered.
Planting a peach tree: The procedure
First the soil should be thoroughly loosened. It is important to ensure good water drainage, otherwise waterlogging will occur. The hole for the peach tree should be about twice as deep and wide as the base of the tree. However, the plant must not be buried too deep - the grafting points should be visible a few centimeters above the ground. Before planting, the roots should be thoroughly watered, and the main root of bare-rooted trees should be freshly cut. The peach tree can be protected from strong winds with a plant stake so that it grows optimally.
You can find detailed instructions for planting a peach tree here.
Transplant peach tree
The peach tree should be transplanted once or twice in its first years. This measure promotes the growth of the roots and dead or diseased roots can be removed. Since peaches are neither shallow nor deep-rooting, a general rule of thumb is that the roots are about as wide as the crown and up to a meter deep in the ground.
Older trees should not be replanted. Due to the strong root branching, there is a high risk of numerous root injuries or even cutting off if transplanted late, which can lead to the tree dying.
Care for the peach tree properly
The peach is one of the more demanding fruit trees, so proper care is the be-all and end-all for a successful harvest. But with the right tricks, the peach can also bloom magnificently in hobby gardens.
Watering and fertilizing the peach tree
A balanced water balance is essential for the growth of your peach tree. In the first year in particular, care should be taken to water the tree regularly so that it does not lose its fruit. Rainwater should be used for this, as the peach is sensitive to the lime contained in tap water. If there is no way to collect rainwater, you can also leave tap water for a week. The lime settles on the bottom and the water can then (without the calcareous sediment) be used for watering. Older trees, on the other hand, can usually provide themselves with water anddo not have to be watered additionally.
The peach should be fertilized at regular intervals throughout the entire growth period, i.e. from spring to early autumn. It is important to ensure a balanced nitrogen balance. Long-term fertilizers are particularly suitable, which are only applied in spring and may have to be fertilized again in summer. For example, our Plantura organic universal fertilizer with organic long-term effect is ideal for this. But biological alternatives such as compost, manure and horn shavings can also be a good alternative if given regularly. In the first year, the peach tree should not be fertilized as a rule, as it can react very sensitively to an excess of nutrients.
Peach tree: Further care measures
Since the peach tree does not have a particularly competitive root system, care should be taken to keep the tree pit free of any vegetation in the first few years. In the case of varieties that are particularly susceptible to frost and in particularly long and cold winters, the crown can be covered with a protective hood or fleece to prevent frost damage. Leaving foliage on the ground around the trunk can also help protect the peach tree during severe winters. However, winter protection is usually not required for mature trees and more robust varieties.
Pruning the peach tree correctly
Pruning the peach tree is one of the most important care measures. Since peaches only bear fruit on one-year-old wood and quickly wilt without pruning, regular pruning should always be carried out to ensure a good harvest and a beautiful tree. Even at home, the right pruning of a peach tree can be done quickly with just a few moves.
Peach tree when to prune?
With the peach tree, as with other types of fruit trees, a distinction is made between winter (January to April) and summer pruning (end of June to beginning of August). Winter pruning is aimed at promoting growth and promoting the sprout of new shoots. Used correctly, it ensures a good harvest, as the peach bears flowers and thus fruit, especially on its one-year shoots. In contrast, summer pruning slows down growth and keeps the tree in shape. Therefore, a combination of both cuts should always be used in order to achieve a balanced ratio in shoot growth.
Peach tree how to cut?
The first cut should already be made at thetime of planting. This so-called plant pruning consists of cutting back all side shoots except for a maximum of five eyes. The same is done with the main shoot, which should clearly exceed the side shoots after the cut. In the next few years, the training pruning will follow, in which the optimal shape and branching of the tree is to be promoted. Here, he althy productive branches are shortened at the shoot tip, while side shoots are sometimes completely removed, sometimes not cut at all. It is advisable to also trim side shoots to encourage the growth of one-year-old wood.
A special feature of the peach decides whether a side shoot should be removed or left uncut. The peach tree forms both real and fake fruit shoots. False fruit shoots can be recognized by the only individually formed flower buds at the nodes and by only one leaf bud at the tip of the shoot. Although they can form fruit, they lose it early on because they cannot adequately supply the fruit. Real fruit shoots, on the other hand, form the so-called triplet buds at each node, consisting of two flower buds next to each other, which are framed by a leaf bud. Since false fruit shoots neither nourish the tree nor bear fruit, they should be completely removed from the tree when pruning.
Even older trees should be pruned regularly. Just like with young trees, it is advisable to remove false fruit shoots. Furthermore, the hierarchy between the main shoot, leading shoot and side shoots should be supported. In addition, dominant shoots that take away too much light from the rest of the tree can be shortened or even removed entirely. Old shoots that are no longer bearing fruit can also be pruned back to make room for young shoots. However, care should be taken to ensure that the balance between old and new shoots is maintained. As after every care measure, the tree should also be observed after cutting in order to draw conclusions for the next cut.
You can read a detailed summary of the correct pruning measures for your peach tree here.
Peach Tree: Common Pests
The best known and most common pest on peach trees is the aphid. These not only damage the plant by removing the phloem sap, but can also be carriers of thedreaded curling disease. The aphid can often be seen with the naked eye and, depending on the species, has a green, yellowish or even grayish colour. There are also stunted or curled leaves and sparse growth of buds, flowers and fruits. Furthermore, the appearance of honeydew - a sticky liquid excreted by aphids - is a clear indication of the pests. If the aphid infestation is low, home remedies such as a stinging nettle decoction can often be sufficient. In the case of a heavy infestation, however, a chemical insecticide (insecticide) should be used to contain further damage.
Peach Tree: Common Diseases
The most common disease of the peach tree is leaf curl. This disease, caused by fungi, is primarily seen on the leaves. These show bubble-like elevations and get a white-green to red color. Furthermore, it is possible for the leaves to curl or curl up or even be thrown off. Effective control is only possible with chemical pesticides (fungicides) and can only be done next spring before the first buds swell. So far, there are no biological measures with a guaranteed effect, but trees that are well cared for and generally he althy are significantly less susceptible than trees that have already been damaged. As a precautionary measure, however, you can choose a robust or partially resistant variety, even if this does not guarantee absolute safety either.
If it is not the leaves but the fruits that show signs of disease, there is a high probability of Monilia fruit rot. The Monilia fungus causes rapidly increasing rotten spots on the fruit. These are ring-shaped surrounded by the so-called cushion mold, the white fruiting body of the fungus. In the case of infested fruits, total rot follows first, then either they fall off or they hibernate on the tree as a fruit mummy. The fungus often overwinters in these fruit mummies and then spreads again in the spring. Therefore, all affected fruits should be collected and affected branches should be cut back to the he althy wood. To prevent a new outbreak, the waste should not end up on the compost but should be burned or buried.
The last important disease is theGum flow (Gummosis), even if it is less of a disease and much more of a symptom. Gum flow can occur as a sign of disease, but can also be caused by unfavorable growth conditions or damage to the bark. The tree "bleeds" an amber-colored, sticky mass that is often mistaken for resin. Robust varieties should be chosen as a precaution, but proper care and a white coat to prevent frost cracking can also help. In the event of an infestation, affected branches should be cut off generously with disinfected scissors to prevent the disease from spreading.
Before a peach tree finds its place in your garden, you have to choose the right variety. We present the most popular varieties of peach for cultivation.