All about planting a peach tree and care

Peach is not as picky about the type of soil as it is about the place of planting, so it is worth considering some of the subtleties of its cultivation in order to get the highest quality and large harvest. For example, if the peach planting site is in a shaded place or among old, high-growing trees, the ripening of its wood will be delayed, as a result of which the fruits become smaller, their taste decreases, and generative buds are not laid.

Time to board

Planting time for peaches depends on the climatic zone. For example, in Crimea, you can safely plant a peach in autumn. At the same time, planting in regions more distant from the south in the fall shows a low survival rate even for well-developed seedlings, since the tree does not have time to root, grow stronger and dies during winter frosts or spring frosts.

The optimal planting time is in March - early April, provided that the planting holes are harvested in the fall. As soon as a stable warm temperature sets in, the soil thaws and dries out a little, seedlings should be planted in the ground. Planting in May is not recommended; trees planted at this time take a long time to take root. It should be borne in mind that a peach is not a peach sensitive to excess moisture and does not tolerate swampy soils, the level of occurrence of groundwater should be at least 2.2-2.5 m.Trees of an old garden will also inhibit the growth of a young peach if they are located closer 2-3 m.

Planting material

Seedlings

The most economical option to get a fruit bearing on your own plot is the ability to plant a peach yourself from a stone. In this case, you should leave a few well-ripened fruits. The seeds are carefully removed, washed and dried. In wet sand, sawdust or a mixture of moss and peat, the material is stratified. The seeds should be kept in a moist substrate until germination, on average it takes 2.5-3.5 months. To speed up the process, you can carefully remove the seed in 35-45 days and in early spring, after the onset of a warm, stable temperature, sow the seeds into the ground at a distance of 20-25 cm from each other.

Natural stratification is also common, when the seeds are planted directly into the soil in the autumn, before the first frost, in October-November. In the cold winter period, aging will occur in natural conditions. After that, the seedlings are dug out, leaving thicker ones with a developed root system, or they are covered, leaving them to winter in the open ground. It should be borne in mind that although this method allows you to save on planting material, it does not guarantee a similar peach tree and yield from which the seeds were taken.

Saplings

It is more likely to get a good harvest when planting one- or two-year-old seedlings. In this case, you can purchase an already grafted, developed, strong seedling. In addition, their survival rate is much higher than that of seedlings, and they are more resistant to environmental conditions.

If the seedlings are purchased at a considerable distance from the garden plot, before transporting them, they should be wrapped in a damp cloth and placed in a plastic bag, this will avoid drying out and overheating of the roots. Before planting, the damaged tips of the roots are cut by 0.5-1.5 cm to healthy tissue, while the sections should be juicy and white.

Landing rules

Before planting a peach, you should dig and prepare planting pits 100 cm by 80 cm in size, placing them according to the scheme, 40-55 cm between each other and 4-6 m between the rows, depending on the type of rootstock, a mixture of black soil is poured at the bottom of the pit with 11-15 kg of humus and 250-400 g of superphosphate. The peach is planted 4-7 cm deeper than the level of the root collar. If a peach is grafted on wild apricot, cherry plum or other kind of rootstock, the grafting site should be 12-15 cm below the soil level to reduce the effect of incompatibility.

A wooden stake is driven in the middle of the hole, which will serve as a support for the young plant and will avoid damage and inhibition of the development of the peach in strong winds. The tree is tied to it with an eight-shaped knot in two places using twine. The roots of the plant are straightened, directed in different directions, and covered with earth from above, compacted and watered abundantly several times. The trunk circle is mulched with a small layer of 3-4 cm of humus, compost or sawdust, while fresh manure cannot be used. On the second or third day after planting, the tree is again abundantly watered in two steps. And in the future, they make sure that the soil in the near-trunk zone does not dry out, but does not swamp it either.

If the spring planting time was missed, and the peach was planted in the autumn, you need to dig in 2 pegs on both sides of the seedling. Before the onset of the first frost, the young tree is covered with a dense bag, strengthening it on stakes, and sprinkling it with soil. In order for the seedling to have air access, several holes are made on the south side of the bag. This shelter is removed in spring, when the air temperature is at least 5-10C.

How to care after landing

Immediately after planting, a peach crown is formed, as a rule, in a cupped shape. From the place of grafting, on the stem of the seedling, to the first developed lateral branch, measure a segment of 35-45 cm, corresponding to the height of the future stem. The shoots that develop on it are cut under a ring, leaving 3-5 most developed ones above, located at least 8-15 cm from each other and directed in different directions. After that, the seedling should be cut at a height of 75-85 cm, and the rest of its shoots should be tamed 3-4 buds from the base of the stem

In the second year after the peach is planted, the tree continues to form. For this, no more than 5 lateral shoots are selected, which subsequently develop into skeletal branches and bear fruit abundantly. They should move away from the trunk at an acute angle and be directed in different directions. The allotted shoots under the skeletal branches are shortened by 50-60 cm, and the premature shoots developing on them are cut off into 2-3 growth buds. On the trunk, grown shoots are completely removed, as well as competitive shoots that are located next to future skeletal branches. The remaining shoots 20-25 cm long are pinched over 5-7 leaves in early June to stop their growth.

In the first years after planting, fertilizers are applied 2-4 times during the growing season, with an interval of 2-4 weeks. It is best to carry out the first feeding in April, the next one after 2-2.5 weeks in early May, and the rest in June, but not later than July, otherwise the shoots will not stop growing in time and will not mature by the end of the growing season. As fertilizers, ammonium nitrate or manure solution is used, adding in the latter case potassium and phosphorus. In order not to damage the roots in dry weather, the day before feeding, the tree is watered abundantly. If the young plant is underdeveloped, with few foliage, the amount of fertilizer should be cut in half.

Video "How to plant a peach correctly"

This video highlights the technology of planting a peach and the subsequent care of the tree, the features of the first pruning and feeding.