How to Grow Peaches

Peaches are one of the heralds of summer and warmth! They are a romantic fruit and are highly coveted during their short fruiting season. Peaches don’t store well but the trees are highly productive and for that brief season their flavour and aroma shout SUMMER!!

History

Peaches were originally thought to be cultivated in China 4000 years ago, but new evidence suggests they may be as old as 6000 years or more. They were brought into Persia and then to Europe and beyond. They are important in many cultures around the world.

Grafting

Most peach trees are grafted or budded although you can grow a productive peach quite easily from seed.

Planting

Peaches love heat and are not fans of our wet springs, especially when they are opening their blossoms and unfurling their leaves. If you can provide them a sunny (the more the better but at least 6 hours), south facing spot under an overhang they will grow quite happily. Peaches often suffer from peach leaf curl which is a fungal disease when they are grown in the open. They are most susceptible in the spring as they flower and begin to leaf out. If you cannot grow under an overhang, try to place a clear ‘tent’ , or umbrella like structure over your peach until it has fully leafed out. These structures can be removed generally by Early May with great results.

A well draining fertile soil will keep your peach happy. They seem to require more nitrogen than many other tree fruits and benefit greatly from a fruit tree or all purpose fertilizer containing nitrogen each spring.

You can underplant with a groundcover that is a heat lover like a succulent.

Container Planting

There are some new dwarf peach varieties that produce large crops of full sized fruit on a tree that will grow to 4 feet in height tops! These work wonderfully in large pots the size of a ½ oak barrel. Make sure you top dress with compost each year (but keep from touching the base of the trunk) and fertilize especially if they are in a container. The absolutely fantastic thing about growing peaches in a container (especially if you have it on wheels) is that you can move it under an overhang during the wet spring and then move it out into the heat after the rains!!

Pollination

Most peaches are self fruitful and have male and female parts in each flower. They are both wind and insect pollinated. For peaches, nutrients, age and light can affect their flowering. If you have a container planted peach on a deck on a high rise, there may not be many pollinators flying around but you may have adequate wind, if not you may want to take a small duster or paintbrush and go from blossom to blossom to do the work yourself!

Pruning

Pruning peaches in the ground usually consists of thinning and removing any dead, diseased or crossing branches and encouraging 45 degree-horizontal branching. Most pruning is done in the dormant season before the buds begin to swell. Peaches are great subjects of horizontal or fan espalier shapes as they can easily be grown against a shed or wall and kept neatly under the overhang.