Your tree is younger. They hold their leaves longer. No worries.

Peach trees tend to hold leaves longer, in a commercial setting they have a treatment tio induce dormancy. Some chemical. We do not. So yeah ditto, no worries at all.
I removed the rest of my leaves yesterday to apply a dormant spray. We have a lot of fungal problems around here so I try and get a fall treatment in. I used lime-sulfur in dormant oil. You can no longer buy lime-sulfur. I have one bottle left. I guess some teenagers in Japan were using it to kill themselves so it was pulled off the market. Anyway some of mine had no leaves, some had leaves. I would not prune right now myself. I would wait till late winter, say March.

"Peach trees tend to hold leaves longer, in a commercial setting they have a treatment to induce dormancy."

Hi Drew,

Hey, I've not heard of this for peaches. Would you mind elaborating on this for me please?

Olpea, I wish i could! I heard it on a podcast I think of the garden show Don Shor has out of Davis California. A caller asked the exact same question. It could have been another show too, and I have since deleted the shows. Also he didn't mention a product name or nothing. So you know what I know. It might have been Garden Sense, another show I listen to weekly. I don't remember? Even if I did, no real info given. I assume he knows what he is talking about.
I do know that the idea is to defoliate to induce dormancy. How that is done???
Here is an article from Florida, little info there too

Here is a link that might be useful: Peaches in Florida

Oh, OK. I see from your link the idea is to induce dormancy in low chill areas (where otherwise peaches may not go into dormancy due to such mild winters, or may not go into dormancy at the same time).

From the link you provided, it looks like they use zinc sulfate to burn the leaves to force dormancy (I've used that myself to increase zinc content in soil.)

Thanks for the info. I've not heard of it because our winters are much cooler.

That makes sense. I removed the rest on my leaves yesterday. By hand. You could do that if they feel the trees needs to go dormant. I did it to spray a dormant spray, they were in the way! Make sure I get all of the branches completely covered. I'll use other products in early spring.

The really low chill fruits are a different animal from high chill. I can force grapes to bloom 10 months early by pruning, ie next yrs bloom can be forced in mid summer rather than following spring. Low chill blueberries can be forced into partial bloom in fall by pruning. The FL low chill peaches can bloom early, in winter, if defoliated early. Basically these fruits almost don't need chilling just something to trigger a change in season.

I doubt that tells one much about high chill fruits which tend to begin going dormant early in fall. Going fully dormant is a long process taking months. Pulling leaves off high chill peaches doesn't make them go dormant and may not affect much at all.

Pulling leaves off high chill peaches doesn't make them go dormant and may not affect much at all.

I did it for convenience not to go dormant, and in 7b as the poster is, might be low enough chill area to make a difference. Don't know what he is growing?
In my area the single digit temps does a good job of taking care of the leaves. Obviously the trees don't know when to go dormant. As all the native trees long ago shed their leaves, but the peach trees even after 3 years still have leaves way longer than the natives. This year the cells all busted in the leaves when they froze off. Making them go dormant here IMHO would be a good idea too. It may not be possible, but the trees are definitely out of sync to the local weather. It may be normal, but it is hard to watch, like the tree is caught not dormant. Why we are getting questions like in this thread.

This post was edited by Drew51 on Mon, Dec 1, 14 at 18:03

Drew:

One signal for onset of dormancy in high chill fruits is daylenght. For that effect the tree needs leaves. Dormancy begins earlier than is apparent. The tree needs to get ready for the rare early extreme freeze events that can occur. So trees in cold winter areas are much hardier much earlier than is apparent from outward appearance. I'd say in your area dormancy begins to develop by early September. By mid October the trees are quit hardy.

I had peach trees in Amarillo survive zero on about Nov 3, 1993. Our normal low at that time about 35F. I still have peaches here with 80% leaves intact after several nights 18-21F.

PS: Dormancy in my comments here would be defined as an increase in hardiness of wood and buds.

This post was edited by fruitnut on Mon, Dec 1, 14 at 18:26

Yeah I know you're right, but you couldn't tell looking at it.
It was warm yesterday so I decided to paint the trunks again as the paint was getting thin from growth and weathering. I noticed on my Indian Free a canker at the graft union. Just starting. I thought maybe a borer, but no, looks like a canker. Not the best time of year, but no way was I going to leave it on. So I removed it as it was small. Although exposing wood and removing bark, wounding the tree, Crap! Anyway the wood looks dry already. The tree still may not make it. Going into third year, no fruit yet due to bad weather, and it might die. Man frustrating growing stone fruits! I looked at all my other trees and they look fine.
I would not care are much and just replace it, but as you know I'm moving so If it dies I'm not replacing it till after the move in three years, argh! At least the work needed to the house to sell is getting done slowly but surely. Back on track. All I need is a big pile of cash to make it go quicker.
I have to plant something! So i planted 6 currant plants in the yard yesterday, the price was right...free!

Here is a pic i took this morning of the tree.

Looks fine, well I would not want a central leader on a peach tree. I would have pruned it out when I planted it.

A younger more vigorous tree will hold leaves longer than an older less vigorous tree. Your tree looks fine. The older leaves should turn yellow first. It hasn't been frozen as indicated by leaves and should be fine going into winter. It's already a lot hardier than it might look. Would likely take at least zero now without damage to wood or buds. Leaves don't matter at this point.

what are some of the disadvantages to having a central leader?
If i do cut it out, when should i do it?

tlbean...I think Drew is saying he would rather have the tree as an open center. Open center allows more light into the tree to increase fruit production, allow more sunlight to reach the fruit resulting in higher quality, sweeter fruit with better color. It also checks vigorous upright growth promoting strong lower scaffolds. It may also to some degree help with fungal diseases and keeping the tree lower to facilitate thorough spray application. Also easier to pick...depending.
You don't have to do this of course, Drew was just expressing his preference. Open center I think still is the preferred method of commercial production where free standing conventional trees are grown. There does however seem to be some experimentation these days with alternative growing methods with just about all types of fruit it seems.

Tlbean hi

You have same peach variety Red Heaven what i have, also you planted it about same time i did mine in October 2014. I was also worried about leaves when my peach tree didn't drop it leaves. Now my peach don't have leaves. You got some good advice here, it is good to know newly planted peach tree holds their leaves longer than older trees. I see your peach tree has some yellow leaves. I moved those leaves little bit up using my finger and they dropped to ground. Have you tried moving those yellow leaves little bit up using your finger so they might fall to the ground? I suggest you don't shake your peach tree, as it may cause damage to tree if weather is cold.

Back to pruning, most of us develop open centered trees with 3 or 4 scaffold branches. Sometimes even tying them down to keep them more horizontal. You seem to have some decent branches. You want them at about 30 to 50 inches high. Pick 3 or 4 in that range. Remove the rest. You want branches staggered, not all coming out of the central leader at the same place. And also picture them eventually filling out and forming a 360 degree circle. So you have branches on all sides. You could also remove up to 1/3 of the scaffold branch to encourage more branching and thicker scaffolds. Remove the central leader to just above the highest scaffold. Remove other side branches that are not going to be scaffolds. If you're not sure which to pick you can leave some on and remove later. 4 is best, but 3-5 are acceptable, I don't have ton's of experience, it is how I do it anyway. Some here might have better, or other suggestions whom have more experience than I do.
Wait till late winter/early spring to do this pruning.

Hi

Need to correct it nickname was Tlbean2004, not Tlbean as i wrote before. Sorry of wrong writing of nickname.

Dennis, I am so glad you came back to the forum. You will not be banned. That was a horrible thing to say to you. Mrs. Gibson

MrsG47 hi

What is situation on your peach tree now? Do you have leaves on your tree peach tree still? My peac tree don't have any more leaves as i told earlier. I think it is good because winter is coming. I have been here all the time, so i haven't left anywhere. I don't just wrote messages all the time. Yes i didn't like that me calling using that name, you know what i mean so i removed my message. I don't see how sun is political thing, when it can cause global cooling in world. I have looked long time sun and weather i have thouht quite a bit this thing and i think sun might have caused global warming. Sun can change weather here in world indirect way, that i mentioned year without a summer is just one thing which occured during Dalton minimun.

Dennis you have to tell us sometime about weather in Finland. I see you have zone 6 what zone range is in Finland?
Yeah warming is used a propaganda tool here, at least some of us think so, and are very upset about it. You could not possibly know about it. It's about controlling energy for profit and favors, and some of us think it is not right.
Some think that is not true. that we do need to regulate energy more. Anyway please let's not go there anymore. I'm in zone 6a or 5b depending on what zone map you use. Seems your weather is a lot like mine.
I would be interested in what you grow too. maybe start a new thread about it. I used to trade music with a guy in Finland. I would send live radio broadcasts I recorded here, for his live radio broadcasts there. Or sometimes soundboards or even audience recordings.
I have many Finnish radio broadcasts and even some recorded TV shows.

Dennis, I understand what you are saying. My peach trees have no leaves. Only my apple trees still have leaves on them. I am hoping for a large peach crop next year. And hopefully I will have peaches from my Chinese white peach tree. I hope we have a mild winter. Mrs. G

Drew51 hi

I have wrote in past some information about our weather here. I wrote i am in zone 6, but actually i might zone 5 but zone 6 sounds better so i wrote zone 6. I have peach tree.

MrsG47 hi

What variety peach tree you have? I have Red Heaven peach tree. Big crop? Be aware that branched don't broke if there is a lot of peaches on them. First you need to get flowers through winter. You hope for mild winter, ops those forecast which i found show colder than normal weather for eastern U.S.A. I guess you don't get that cold you have much damage for peach tree.

Dennis, my peach trees are: Elberta, Early Crawford, Shui Mi Tao, (an un-named seedling) and a red fleshed peach. I am looking for one more peach tree. Since I live on an island an I am surrounded by water, we do not get as much snow as they do inland. I thought of a 'Redhaven' but never bought one. I've have had my trees for a number of years and they all bloom. They are now old enough to hold fruit. I thin diligently. Mrs. G

MrsG47 hi

So are you worried about snowfall that roots gets damage in cold? I think peach flower in one year old wood, so if buds is destroyed in cold winter, it might have flowers next year. I think it would be good to have snow cover during cold weather so roots get protection from cold weather. Your zone looks quite warm, generally peaches do well in zone 6 so are you worried about cold without snow? You said you hope for mild winter is that you meant or what you mean by saying that? Forecast says colder than normal and above snowfall in eastern U.S.A. Your area looks to be extremely above snowfall and at least much above in one forecast.

I'm in zone 6 and last winter all fruit buds died from the cold. It got down to -14F. Our zones were incorrectly adjusted up. I used to be zone 5. They should change the zones back again.
MrsG, Redhaven is a nice peach. Bred in my state!
You may want to look at time of ripening to extend season to what you have. O'Henry, Red Globe, or Redskin are decent too. I think O'Henry has baceterial spot problems, but is a good tasting peach. All are at either Adams or Grandpa's, Both top rate.
I have Indian Free, and PF lucky 13. Mid and a late season types. I have Arctic Glo Nectarine early season acid fruit. Good for cooking! And the Spice Zee Nectaplum.
So have the season covered OK. Early, mid, and late.

I have plenty of peaches Drew, but it is so hard for me not to try something new! My temperatures are mild enough not to kill buds, I am lucky. Right now I have early, mid and late peaches, I just need to prune them properly. I have a good start.

Dennis I do not worry about winter freezing my fruit tree buds. The lowest it gets here (usually) is around 10 degrees; a little less at times but thats about right. Mrs. G

" O'Henry, Red Globe, or Redskin are decent too."

Drew, I've never grown Red Globe, but O'Henry and Redskin are good peaches.

I've mentioned before I'm liking Redskin a lot. I've harvested it for about 6 years (from memory) and it never stood out in terms of color (when ripe, it has a kind of greenish background most years) which is a bit of a negative in terms of selling the peach. They just don't look pretty compared to other late peaches, but the flavor is good (in my locale) and the peaches are much larger than Elberta, and it ripens in the Elberta window (Elberta is one of the parents of Redskin).

The biggest attribute is its consistent cropping. This peach always sets a full crop when other varieties have been hammered by spring frosts. As a bonus, it has beautiful showy blooms, which is nice for a home orchard tree.

I plan to graft some more Redskin this spring.

Thanks for the short review. My choice of Red Globe as it was mentioned as good by fruitnut. And also a local Nursery which makes the top 5 for hardy fruit trees is Grandpa's. It's a "Grandpa's Choice" there Although it is mentioned it is susceptible to bacterial spot and frost tender. It must have a really good flavor for Grandpa to still suggest it. His other choices are Redhaven and O'Henry. So 3 out of all the peaches they sell., which this year is 24 cultivars.
So it's not my experience. I developed a list of good candidates for my yard and all three are on it. Now Redhaven and O'Henry will make it in my yard first.
Redhaven because it was developed here, and is a really decent peach. O'Henry for it's exceptional taste. it does have some problems. But really what cultivar is perfect?
Both are old cultivars reviewed many times all over the place. I believe Scott mentions it is was of his best (O'Henry). Redhaven is one of the better Michigan cultivars, I have to have it.
Again too first come peaches that work here, then one that should work here but untested, then experimental. So peaches suggested by a top 5 nursery that is in MI, have huge weight on my list.

My choice on Redskin was based your review and also a review from a radio interview I heard. The grower was an author, and mentioned the cultivar as being very good. I can't remember who the writer was though? Maybe Lee Reich?

Anyway I think with any I mentioned Mrs.G would be happy. I would base choice on ripening time compared to what she has. So mentioned a few. I can mention more, but know less about them, but still on my list.
Winblo, Carmen, Carolina Gold, and Clayton would be excellent choices too.

Speaking of grafting my Indian free looks like it has a canker. I removed canker, but the tree may develop more so I took a couple scions to try my hand at grafting. I may spread the canker, I took it off a clean scaffold, and it doesn't matter anyway.
I'm moving and will have to start over in 3 years. these are all experiments at this point so another reason to graft. to practice, and to experiment. I'm putting the scions on Arctic Glo Nectarine. or Lucky 13.

I'm not sure what kind of graft to use? But have a lot of time to figure that out. I'm going to practice graft cutting on my maple tree. See if I can get good cuts, or at least practice my cuts on scrape wood first.

"I'm not sure what kind of graft to use? But have a lot of time to figure that out. I'm going to practice graft cutting on my maple tree. See if I can get good cuts, or at least practice my cuts on scrape wood first."

It's probably not a bad idea to practice grafting, but in reality Drew, I've found the accuracy of the cut is pretty low on my list of relevance.

I once read a grafting tutorial which said the cut makes a huge impact in terms of grafting success. They even said wood carvers make the best grafters.

This really worried me because I've never been very skilled with my hands in terms of delicate/artistic crafts (even my penmanship is awful and I could never play an instrument, even though I love music). I'm plenty skilled w/ working w/ my hands at mechanics or machinery, but that's really a different type of coordination.

Happily, from my experience, delicate, careful cuts aren't necessary. What matters most in my climate is good tight wrapping of some suitable tape, covering w/ parafilm, and most of all, the right temps. Of course, basic things like lining up cambiums are essential.

All that said, I do envy someone like Konrad who can seem to make picture perfect cuts.

While I'm giving my opinion, I'll also mention I wouldn't be too concerned about spreading canker through grafting.

I know a lot of literature warns against spreading communicable diseases among trees, but I've come to believe there's not that much danger.

I understand it goes against our current thought from a human perspective (I'm thinking of Ebola here) but I don't think fruit trees have near as much danger from catching contagions. To be sure there are various viruses (like Sharka, or X-disease) which I wouldn't risk, but I think most common things, like pathogens which cause leaf curl, canker, or some common root diseases, are so ubiquitous that it doesn't matter how careful we are. They are more or less airborne/soil borne.

As a medical professional, I have to think there are similar examples in your own realm of experience.

I used to disinfect tools between trees and try to be extra careful not to let any disease get established, but I've since relegated that to "pie in the sky" thinking.

Thanks for the advice, it is sound. I agree the canker is localized. i was just fending off any replies about it. As it truly doesn't matter. I may not even see the graft fruit if it takes. But I will see if it takes ot not. The tree is small so I could only harvest 2 scions. It will fruit next year, so I don't want to take all the wood off of it. Well if we have a decent winter that is.

MrsG47 hi

I still don't get what you mean by " i hope we have mild winter". You said you are not worried about winter freezing fruit buds. Red Haven might be good peach tree, Glo Haven might be good too. I thought you are talking about you. You wrote " That was a horrible thing to say to you.". You are right, i got personal attack which don't belong in forums. I removed my message after that, because i didn't like that.