A. This can be a complicated area and it depends on what you might be referring to on the tree. If you are referring to fruit trees with new growth that has normal vigor but without the development of leaves along its length, these can be referred to as “blind shoots” or “blind wood”. Older thought used to say it was due to a lack of winter cold weather or a lack of “winter chilling”. Some are questioning whether this is true or not.
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| Blind wood in apple |
If you are referring to new growth that is excessively long and vigorous but lacks side branches then this can be excessively vigorous growth that could be handled through summer pruning.
If I want to keep a tree small, I try to summer prune as much as I can every late spring and early summer. This helps to control tree size and keeps them smaller and more manageable.
Summer pruning is only pruning growth that has developed since spring. Growth older than this is not pruned until winter dormancy.
Starting about in April in our climate I begin the summer pruning process at The Orchard. The first growth that I remove is growth that is not worth keeping. These are vigorous shoots that grow straight up, straight down or toward the center of the canopy. Remove these at their point of origin. Once these unproductive branches are removed I then focus on shoots that I plan to keep or at least until I can see them better when the leaves drop this winter.
Remember the most productive branches grow in the canopy at about a 45 degree angle above horizontal.
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| Watersprouts in apple should be removed |
Any shoots that have grown longer than about 24 inches in length since spring are cut back to about 18 inches in length. I know yours is a peach in your case but on fruit trees that produce fruiting spurs along their branches (think short side shoots that produce fruit like in apples, pears, plums, apricots) cutting them back sometime between April and June will encourage earlier fruiting along these branches. Cutting these excessively long branches so they are shorter will force fruit to be produced closer to the ground where it can be harvested easier.
Most peach and nectarines do not produce spurs for bearing their fruit. They bear their fruit along the length of one-year-old branches. Do not allow this year’s new growth to become excessively long.
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| Apple spur (short compressed shoot) supporting fruit |
In your peach tree’s case, if branches are growing straight up, straight down or toward the center, remove them at their source. If new growth is growing excessively long, either remove them (if growing straight up, straight down or toward the center) or cut them back to 18 inches in length if they look like they will be productive in the future.