Columnar fruit is not only suitable as a productive privacy screen in the garden, but also for growing fruit in pots on the balcony or terrace. In order to have lasting success in growing columnar peaches, you should cut them regularly.
When and how do I cut a columnar peach?
To properly prune a columnar peach, carry out the main, rejuvenation and maintenance pruning after harvest, severely shortening two-thirds of the fruit-bearing branches. In the spring before flowering, carry out further corrective pruning and promote branching.
The right time to cut
As a rule, it is advisable to prune the columnar peach either shortly before flowering or directly after harvesting. Ideally, the two times are combined so that the main shaping, rejuvenation and maintenance pruning is carried out after the harvest. Around two thirds of the branches that bore fruit in the current season are severely shortened. The cuts on the branches heal particularly easily and quickly at this time of year. In spring, you should pay particular attention to the fresh buds: the buds should be used to decide which corrective pruning measures should be carried out in spring.
Distinguish between true and false fruit shoots
In addition to the main trunk, the following types of branches or twigs can usually be distinguished on a peach tree:
- true fruit shoots
- false fruit shoots
- Wood shoots
We speak of wooden shoots when there are no flowers and therefore no fruits to be found on them. If wooden shoots are not needed to build the tree, they can easily be shortened to about two pairs of eyes. It is a case of false fruit shoots if there are no pointed leaf buds to be found on them in addition to the rounded flower buds in spring. The true fruit shoots should remain on the tree as undamaged as possible: these have a pointed leaf bud surrounded by two rounded flower buds. However, the ends of these shoots can also be shortened slightly to maintain the compact shape of a columnar peach.
Column with volume
Even if some glossy catalogs like to promise it, no columnar peach can produce a variety of fruits on its trunk without any lateral branches. Therefore, the columnar peach should be regularly pruned to promote branching. At the same time, these side shoots are shortened so that a decorative columnar shape is created.
Tip
In order to protect a columnar peach from aging and to ensure a constant supply of annual fruit wood, well-developed, true fruit shoots are cut back to around eight bud triplets (the combination of two flower buds and one leaf bud. Rather weakly developed ones, weak fruiting shoots can be cut back to three to four bud triplets.
