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Growing peach occupies a special place in the garden. Undoubtedly, this is everyone’s favorite fruit. Few people know that the number 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. Peach begins to bear fruit already 2-3 years after planting in open ground.
Basic rules of care
Landing
When growing peach, the choice of planting site is of great importance. It largely determines the resistance of the tree to adverse conditions and possible diseases, its survival and fruiting. Peaches prefer moist, slightly acidic soils, with good drainage, groundwater should be no closer than 0,8-1,6 m. The most suitable place for planting is well lit, where garden plants did not grow at all, or where cereals were grown for 2-3 years. The development and growth of peach is inhibited by planting 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 abundantly watered and the soil is mulched with a layer of 8-10 cm of peat or sawdust. The root neck can be deepened by 4-6 cm or left at soil level. Landing 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, quality care is required for each tree. Peach is a vigorous crop, the growth of its shoots can reach 55–75 cm per season or more. Regular feeding of the plant ensures not only rapid growth, but also a good, high-quality harvest. Nitrogen fertilizers are applied in limited quantities – about 8-12 g / m2. At the same time, it is important to remember that fertilizing 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 endure calm winter colds and early spring frosts. Such top dressing is used for autumn digging of the soil in the trunk circle. Up to a quarter of a kilogram of superphosphates, 22–32 kg of organic fertilizers, from potassium complexes are spent on one tree, 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 no later than the first week of July, so that the shoots have time to stop growth and ripen, which will help them overwinter.
Successful cultivation of peaches also means regular rejuvenating pruning. Dried, dying branches should be removed in a timely manner and the crown should be thinned out. Trees must be whitened 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 peach in central and central Our Country is soil moisture and its acidic composition. Very dense, highly carbonate, highly saline and marshy soils are not suitable for cultivation. It should also 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 bring a small amount of fruit. The first abundant 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 maturation.
Poor lighting also significantly affects fruiting. If the peach is grown in a shaded area, the generative buds will be poorly laid, as a result of which the fruits become small, with low taste properties. Since the peach blooms early and its flowering is plentiful, fruit should be normalized by removing part of the ovaries 3-4 cm in diameter. This prevents the depletion of the tree and ensures the production of large fruits with good taste. Small, shapeless or damaged fruits are removed first. The remaining ovaries after thinning should be at least 18-25 cm apart. On small, underdeveloped branches, do not leave more than 1-2 fruits.
The correct formation of the crown not only affects the yield, but also the cultivation of peach in general. Pruning is carried out in early spring. In this case, the improved bowl method is often used – when all side branches are removed in the bole area. Leave 3-5 skeletal branches at a distance of 15-20 cm relative to 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 or more. Strongly branched branches that thicken the crown, fatty, one-year growths, as well as damaged, drying branches are regularly removed.
Possible difficulties
When growing peach, it must be remembered that this tree is prone to such diseases as rosette, small fruit and jaundice. Therefore, seedlings must be bought healthy, with a developed root system. If the rootstock is infected with the listed diseases, it must be burned. Bird cherry should grow in a garden plot 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, it is necessary to fight them with fungicides. The most dangerous pests that cause great damage to the tree are sawflies and weevil larvae. You can destroy them by double spraying with special preparations, immediately after the appearance of the first ovaries. It is also effective to introduce paradichlorobenzene into the soil, in a ring around the trunk 3-7 cm wide.
Video “Secrets of growing peach”
The video shows what care is needed to obtain an annual harvest. He talks about all the possible subtleties and mistakes when growing a peach.