If you find that birds and insects are feasting on your fruit before you get to , consider buying reusable protection bags to cover ripening fruit .
Pruning is a vital part of your peach tree maintenance . Not only does it encourage more fruiting , it also keeps the tree healthy , and allows you to control the shape and size , so that harvesting is easier .
Pruning is done to keep the centre open with the main branches angling upward at 45-degree angles , which is ideal for strong , fruit bearing branches . This open centre pruning method allows sunlight to penetrate throughout the branches . Each one of these main branches will produce more branches which also need to be spaced out . There are many guides and videos about perfect peach tree pruning , but as a basic guide , you will be removing
HARVESTING
The size and number of your peaches will depend on many factors and could vary greatly from year to year . Generally , the more peaches on a tree , the smaller the fruit will be . After a few years of growth , you can influence this by removing some of the baby peaches very early in the fruiting season . It is also really important to always remove damaged or decaying peaches , so that only the good , healthy peaches are using energy from the tree .
Most varieties should be picked when they are just ripe – this means when their colour is fully developed , the flesh gives just slightly when pressed , and the fruit pulls easily away from the branch .