Peach growing and care

Peach cultivation has a special place in the garden. Undoubtedly, this is everyone's favorite fruit. Few people know that the amount of fragrant and sweet fruits in the summer directly depends on the care of the tree in the fall. Flower buds are laid on annual shoots. The peach begins to bear fruit as early as 2-3 years after planting in open ground.

Basic rules of care

Landing

When growing a peach, the choice of a planting site is of great importance. It largely determines the tree's resistance to unfavorable conditions and possible diseases, its survival rate and fruiting. Peaches prefer moist, slightly acidic soils with good drainage, the occurrence of groundwater should be no closer than 0.8-1.6 m. The most suitable place for planting is well-lit, where no garden plants have grown at all, or where cereals have been grown for 2-3 years. The development and growth of the peach is inhibited by the planting of seedlings between the trees of the old garden.

Planting pits are filled with compost or humus, phosphorus, nitrogen and micronutrient fertilizers. They are mixed with a fertile topsoil and poured into a slide at the bottom of the pit. After that, the seedling is watered abundantly and the soil is mulched with a layer of 8-10 cm of peat or sawdust. The root collar can be buried 4-6 cm or left at the soil level. Planting is carried out only in early spring. When planted in autumn, peaches do not have time to take root and die during winter frosts.

Fertilizers and pruning

When growing peaches, high-quality care of each tree is required. Peach is a vigorous culture, the growth of its shoots can reach 55–75 cm per season and more. Regular feeding of the plant ensures not only fast growth, but also a good, high-quality harvest. Nitrogen fertilizers are applied in limited quantities - about 8-12 g / m²... It is important to remember that feeding with nitrogen compounds is carried out in the spring, in order to activate the vegetation process, in the fall, such treatment can destroy the tree, since it will not go into hibernation in time and may die from frost later.

Phosphorus-potassium fertilizers, on the contrary, will help the plant to calmly endure winter cold and early spring frosts. Apply this top dressing for the autumn digging of soil in the trunk circle. One tree consumes up to a quarter of a kilogram of superphosphates, 22–32 kg of organic fertilizers, from potash complexes, potassium chloride is used - up to 100 g, wood ash - up to 350-450 g. In addition, it is necessary to feed during the growing season, with an interval of 2-4 weeks. The first feeding is carried out before the start of active sap flow - in the first weeks of April, the second - in the first week of May, the third - at the beginning of summer, but not later than the first week of July, so that the shoots have time to stop growth and mature, which will help them overwinter.

The successful cultivation of peaches also includes regular anti-aging pruning. Dried, dying branches should be removed in a timely manner and the crown should be thinned. Trees must be whitewashed for the winter. The bases of large branches and stems are tied with thick paper, burlap or spruce branches. The root system is also insulated with a layer of sawdust, peat or needles of 25-35 cm.

Conditions for fruiting

One of the most important conditions for good yields when growing peaches in central and central Russia is soil moisture and its acid composition. Very dense, high-carbonate, highly alkaline and waterlogged soils are not suitable for cultivation.It should be borne in mind that low soil moisture reduces the number of ovaries. Despite the high drought resistance of this plant, without 3-4 single watering, the peach will bear a small amount of fruit. The first plentiful watering, in the amount of 3-5 buckets, is carried out at the beginning of flowering. Then after the appearance of the first ovaries and directly, during their ripening.

Poor illumination also noticeably affects fruiting. If the peach is grown in a shaded area, the generative buds will not form well, as a result of which the fruits become small, with low palatability. Since the peach blooms early, and its flowering is abundant, the fruit should be normalized by removing a part of the ovaries 3-4 cm in diameter. This prevents depletion of the tree and ensures the production of large fruits with good taste. First of all, small, shapeless or damaged fruits are removed. The remaining ovaries after thinning should be at least 18-25 cm apart. Do not leave more than 1-2 fruits on small, underdeveloped branches.

Correct crown formation not only affects the yield, but also the cultivation of the peach in general. Pruning is carried out in early spring. In this case, the method of the improved bowl is often used - when all lateral branches are removed in the trunk zone. Leave 3-5 skeletal branches 15-20 cm apart from each other. The conductor is cut off at the side branch at the top. Shortening is rarely used, only in cases where biennial branches reach 55-65 cm and more. Strongly branched, crown-thickening branches, fatty, annual growths, as well as damaged, drying branches are regularly removed.

Possible difficulties

When growing a peach, it must be remembered that this tree is susceptible to diseases such as rosette, small fruit and jaundice. Therefore, you need to buy seedlings healthy, with a developed root system. If the stock is infected with the listed diseases, it must be burned. Bird cherry should grow in a garden area no closer than 150-160 m from peaches, since it is she who serves as an intermediate host for some pathogens.

In cases where the foliage of a tree is affected by brown rot or other diseases of a similar nature, they need to be dealt with with fungicides. The most dangerous pests that cause great damage to the tree are sawflies and larvae of weevils. They can be destroyed by double spraying with special preparations, immediately after the appearance of the first ovaries. And also effective is the introduction of paradichlorobenzene into the soil, in a ring around the trunk 3-7 cm wide.

Video "Secrets of growing a peach"

The video shows how much care is needed to get the annual harvest. Tells about all the possible subtleties and mistakes when growing a peach.