PEACH
- Scientific name: Prunus persica
- Higher classification: Plum
- Rank: Species
- Family: Rosacsseae
- Kingdom: plantae
The peach is a deciduous tree native to the region of Northwest China between the Tarim Basin and the north slopes of the Kunlun Mountains, where it was first domesticated and cultivated. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches . The peach is a type of fruit which is botanically called drupe. Great size, rounded fruit, with a velvet thin and easy to peel skin. Its flesh is between a yellowish and whitish colour, sweet, juicy, giving off a pleasant aroma. Uses
Packed With Nutrients and Antioxidants. Peaches are rich in many vitamins, minerals, and beneficial plant compounds. ...
- May Aid Digestion.
- May Improve Heart Health.
- May Protect Your Skin.
- May Prevent Certain Types of Cancer.
- May Reduce Allergy Symptoms.
- Widely Available and Easy to Add to your Diet.
Botany
Peach have basic chromosomes number X-8 and 2n-16. Small to medium-sized, peach trees seldom reach 6.5 metres (21 feet) in height. Under cultivation, however, they are usually kept between 3 and 4 metres (10 and 13 feet) by pruning. The leaves are glossy green, lance-shaped, and long pointed; they usually have glands at their bases that secrete a fluid to attract ants and other insects. The flowers, borne in the leaf axils, are arranged singly or in groups of two or three at nodes along the shoots of the previous season’s growth. The five petals, usually pink but occasionally white, five sepals, and three whorls of stamens are borne on the outer rim of the short tube, known as the hypanthium, that forms the base of the flower.
Climate
Peach trees are relatively short-lived as compared with some other fruit trees. In some regions orchards are replanted after 8 to 10 years, while in others trees may produce satisfactorily for 20 to 25 years or more, depending upon their resistance to diseases, pests, and winter damage. They are intolerant of severe cold and cannot be grown successfully where temperatures normally fall to −23 to −26 °C (−10 to −15 °F). On the other hand, they do not grow satisfactorily where the winters are too mild, and most varieties require some winter chilling to induce them to burst into growth after the annual dormant period. An annual rainfall of 450 mm or more is adequate for peach cultivation.
Soil
The peach does well on various soil types but in general it grows best on well-drained sandy or gravelly loams. On most soils the peach responds well to nitrogen-rich fertilizers or manures, without which satisfactory growth cannot be obtained.The pH of soil for peach cultivation may range from 5.8-6.8.
Cultivars
Thousands of varieties of the peach have been developed. Yellow-fleshed varieties such as Elberta, Redhaven, and Halford are preferred in North America, while both yellow- and white-fleshed types are popular in Europe. Worldwide, the peach is one of the most important of the deciduous-tree fruits, and China, Italy, Spain, and the United States are major producers.
1.High chilling cultivars; Thes cultivars require more than 1000hr of chilling period per year to break dormancy. It includes Red Heaven, Baby gold,Suncrest etc.
2 .Low chilling cultivars; low chilling cultivars require less than 400 hrs of chilling period per year to break dormancy .It includes spring time, Texas, French early etc.
Propagation
Today many fruit trees, peaches included, are propagated vegetatively to maintain desirable fruiting characteristics. Propagation via seed is not widely used or recommended because a seed produced by cross-fertilization may have a combination of undesirable traits. Cross-fertilization uses two different parent plants and the seed will contain a mix of the genetic backgrounds and will not be identical to either parent. This variability may be useful in plant breeding and developing new varieties, but it is not useful on commercial peach orchards. Additionally, peaches have a low rooting percentage and the roots are highly susceptible to pests, pathogens and environmental stress, making vegetative propagation a better method. Sexual propagation, or propagation via a seed, is mostly used to create seedling rootstock or create new peach varieties. The seed used for seedling rootstock is either produced by self-fertilization in a genetically homozygous tree or by controlled cross-pollination of two parents.
There are a variety of vegetative propagation methods, including cuttings which are cheap and easy to make. Cuttings are generally taken from hardwood growth from the previous season, approximately 10-12 inches in length with some buds attached. The cuttings can be stored and then planted in late February or March, or in areas with mild winters the cuttings can be directly stuck in November through December. Generally a rooting hormone will be needed, IBA is commonly used. Tissue culture or micropropagation is also a method used to propagate many different fruit trees. The advantage to this method is the rapid production of virus and disease free plants. Typically shoot apical meristems are used as explant material.
The most common methods of asexual, vegetative peach propagation are grafting and budding techniques grown on a rootstock variety. This method generally requires a higher skill level and more tools than cutting propagation. Selection of scion and rootstock is very important to establish a robust and high-yielding plant with desired characteristics. It is also important because not all scion and rootstocks are compatible and will not form a successful graft union. In some cases, an interstock may be used to overcome incompatibility. Common rootstocks used are ‘Lovell’ and ‘Nemaguard’. Peach budding compatibility is often enhanced when scions are budded onto nectarine or almond rootstocks.
Cultivation
Having short life span,it is also growing as filler tree for other temperate tree.The planting distance may be 4-6m with the pit of 1m3.It is also planted as intercrop in other temperate fruit like apple ,pear etc
Training and pruning
Training of young
Open center (vase shape) is the recommended training system for Florida. Nursery trees usually have no lateral branches and can be cut back 18 to 24 inches above ground level. Scaffold branches will develop below this cut. These scaffold branches need to be developed low to make pruning, thinning and fruit harvesting operations easily accessible from the ground, or high enough to allow for management practices like weed management, fertilization and irrigation line maintenance.
Nursery trees with greater than a half-inch diameter may have already developed lateral branches. Using pruning shears, remove most of these branches, leaving three to five branches that are evenly spaced in a north, south, east and west direction. During the first spring and summer, trees should be managed to produce as much vegetative growth as possible. Leave major pruning for the winter months when the trees are dormant.
DORMANT PRUNING IN FIRST YEAR
During the first-year dormant pruning, the task is to select branches that will develop into the main structural branches for a tree with an open center. If this has not been done already, select three to four limbs evenly spaced around the trunk at about a 45-degree angle from the trunk and about 6 inches apart vertically. Prune back these branches 2 to 3 feet from the areas from which the scaffold branches emerged. Leave small shoots along these branches to provide sunburn protection for the scaffold limbs. Remove excessively vigorous upright branches that could interfere with the growth of the scaffold branches.
DORMANT PRUNING IN SECOND YEAR AND LATER
During the second dormant season for peaches, select two to three vigorous lateral branches growing outward from each of the primary scaffold branches. Avoid selecting lateral branches situated on top of each other. Remove other branches and cut back the secondary lateral branches about 20 to 36 inches from the primary scaffold branches. Leave some small branches and twigs, especially on the north and east side of the tree, to provide some shade for the scaffold branches.
The same basic pruning methods are used in the third and fourth dormant seasons. Maintaining an open center in this way will allow light penetration throughout the canopy to stimulate the production of new fruiting wood, improve fruit quality and enable workers to pick fruit without ladders. When dormant pruning, open access to the interior canopy for fruit thinning later in the season needs to be considered. Vertical growth for peach trees should not exceed 7 feet. This allows easy harvest from pickers working from the ground without ladders.
SUMMER PRUNING
Summer pruning is a management strategy that can be applied soon after harvest, especially in subtropical peach-growing regions, to help restructure the canopy, direct the tree’s resources into fruit production and improve efficiency of fieldwork.
Cut back the tree to a manageable height of 6 to 8 feet. The sides can also be trimmed back 1 to 2 feet to maintain the alleyway width convenient to move equipment through the orchard. This step can be done either by hand pruner, disc pruning or cutter bar machine.
Starting from the ground up, remove suckers coming from the rootstock. Suckers can compete with the scion for water, nutrients and light.
Remove overly vigorous branches that are growing nearly vertical. These branches are referred to as water shoots, which continue growing for much of the season when other lateral branches have slowed growth. Also remove branches that are rubbing or crossing in the middle. Some smaller lateral branches should be left or cut in half to provide shade to the trunk to help prevent bark cracking from sunburn.
Head back branches with excessive blind nodes, which are sections of branches with no visible buds or leaves. Remove any dead branches as well.
Key recommendations
- Use clean and sharp tools for pruning to help prevent the spread of disease and make the task more efficient. Loppers are the tool used most often, but hand pruners and hand saws will handle branches if needed.
- After pruning, a fungicide spray application is suggested, if not already part of the summer spray schedule.
- Always keep the tree to a manageable height by topping or cutting off (recommended to be done in summer pruning by disc pruner).
- Old fruiting branches should not be allowed to develop inside the tree canopy.
- Always remove old fruit and dead shoots.
- Always remove strong water shoots inside the canopy. If not required as replacement wood, weak water shoots can be kept to reduce limb sunburn.
- Always remove all the growth, including suckers, within 20 inches of the ground.
- Always remove the secondary laterals that are competing with the scaffold.
- To eliminate some flower buds, remove some laterals or tip laterals over 15 inches by cutting them off about one-third.
Irrigation and mulching
Irrigation should be given once a week until new growth occur in early spring. Irrigation is particularly required in dry and hot summer at frequent intervals. Mulching is practiced to conserve soil moisture and discourage weed growth.
Fruit thinning
Thinning of peach is essential to obtain good size and quality of harvested fruit . This can be done in May or June after natural drop .Thinning can be done either manually or chemically by spraying 80 to 200 ppm of Ethrel or Ethephone for self sterile cultivars 30 to 40 days after full bloom.
Harvesting and yield
For distant market, fruits are harvested when they attain good colour with hard skin, whereas, for local consumption, ripe peaches are harvested by twisting with hand. The peak harvesting period of peach is last week of April to May
On an average, 20-30 kg fruit/tree can be harvested from 3 years old tree.
Diseases and Pests
Peach is less affected by diseases and pests. However, sometimes, powdery mildew and shot hole cause damage to the crop.
- Powdery mildew disease cause white powdery substances on the leaves, buds and flowers. This disease is controlled by spraying Sulfex @ 2.5g/l of water.
- Shot hole diseased is caused by fungus, in which dark brown scattered lesion on leaves appears. This disease is controlled by spraying with Captan @ 2g/l of water.
- Peach leaf curling aphid suck growing buds. Leaf buds become weak and result in poor setting and fruits falls-off prematurely. It can be controlled by spraying with Dimethoate (Rogor) @ 1.5 ml/l of water or Monocrotophos (Nuvacron) @ 2.5 ml/l of water at 7-10 days before flowering.
- Stem borer feed below the bark, making minute irregular galleries, resulting the bark split and gum oozes out from the holes. The branches start drying up and do not bear fruits. The affected branches should be cut and destroyed. Nuvan or Monocrotophos @ 2.5ml/l of water or petrol at the rate of 5ml per hole should be injected and close the holes with clay mud thoroughly.
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