Thinning my peach tree to improve yield and health of the tree

Sometimes it helps to watch someone do something. There are more than a few reasons why thinning fruit can be beneficial to your tree, so let's go over some and do this together. Have any other reasons? Let us all know in the comments!

My peach varieties: Reliance (this tree shown here), Contender, Frost, Veteran, Madison, Harrow Diamond, Flamin' Fury, Raritan Rose.

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[heliok]

permaculture geek combined with engineer geek. Nice :D

Geekus permaculturalis x physikus

[whereswendy]

One thing I have learned about the tender art of gardening; it is necessary to become RUTHLESS!

[cpnotill]

Great video and timely as well for many. I thinned over 5, 000 on four 3 yr old trees last yr and at over 3, 000 this yr. I also remove the curled leaves but didn't know about touching other leaves with hands. So much work but so worth it! Really appreciate you sharing your knowledge. 👍🌱🍑

[PhenixWlf]

I greatly appreciated the timing on this video. We inherited a very neglected peach tree when we moved in here a couple months ago. The main trunk is dead and rotted… but yet the tree is a super heavy producer! I was considering pulling off some fruit anyway because I wasn’t sure this poor sick tree could support all that. I feel much better about it now, and I will go thin it right now! Also had no idea about peach leaf curl, Will definitely look out for that as well. Thank you!

[amywiseman]

We need this taught in our schools. Greenhouses & Permaculture education.
Ecosystems.
Get our future generations interested & educated.👩🏻‍🌾🇨🇦
🌻🐝💨🤓ThankÜ

[lindakurtz]

Yeah, the geek-ness of this really appeals to me! Guess I’m a member of the geek club! I always like to know the science behind what I need to do. Thanks for the video.

[ParkrosePermaculture]

Great advice! I very much appreciate my apples that self-thin and do their own June Fruit Drop, but I have to hand-thin my peaches (for me, that's in May), and it's so hard to remove fruit!

[miqf]

No boredom here! And I love the practical, physics-based reason for thinning which fruits. Thanks, as always, for all the knowledge you share!

[nmnate]

In some areas, rain can also be a prime condition to spread fireblight. We have a lot of folks in our area having severe fireblight problems in apple / pear trees as we have the perfect combination of conditions right now. Hail damage from prior thunderstorms (got up over 1" in several areas), warm nighttime temperatures (~55+ deg F), occasional precipitation due to our monsoon rains. Super glad I put in all fireblight resistant varieties, I haven't seen anything on my trees yet. Debating whether I need to go apply copper fungicide to the hail damaged areas of my trees...

[nmnate]

On the fruit trees I've planted more recently, I've been pretty good at training the main scaffold branches (open center type) to maybe 30-45 degrees above horizontal. It makes sense once you think about how the fruit (or snow) loads up. A very upright branch picks up a much longer moment arm, further in the displacement. If you start with a branch that's fairly horizontal, it's going to develop stronger crotches and for a similar load the branch will not have to go through as much bending / angular displacement, due to the moment arm being more consistent from fruit on the branch.

I also thin the most at the branch tips, it makes complete sense :)

[lwilkicki]

Nothing lacking in this video! It's very inclusive of potential issues and remedies, particularly appreciate the assurance of pulling fruit off! The reasoning helps very much. Thanks for the detailed video, I feel no need to search for more information!

[abdullahvonsnarkenson]

Such a simple video but so very valuable. I did not expect such good information in this video.

[yasminnilima]

Have you tried painting chalk onto the bark during the time when the moth is spreading, breeding and laing eggs? That help me out here. Go tips in this video. Lot's of love from Sweden!

[PamelaHoneycutt-fxbf]

Going to try making pickled peaches with all those babies. Such a waste to throw away.

[southsidecarly]

Thanks for the video, your tree was just loaded! I’m new to this peach tree stuff, my peach tree I planted last year looked so beautiful and had so many bright green leaves, then we had weeks of rain and when I went out and was checking things out it was loaded with peach leaf curl and had lost a lot of the leaves. I’m so upset about it. Now after watching your video I know to get out there early on( between rain storms here in Washington State) and check for any leaf curl. My apple tree is doing good I took all the apples off because it’s the first year for that one too. Just wondering if that leaf curl will transfer to apples, pears or apricots?

[juliosdiy]

Thin thm out otherwise they will def break!

[TexasCoachMike]

This is an amazing video thank you so much. I'm having my first experience with peach trees. I went out and thinned this year, but I don't think I did enough. I pulled over 200 peaches off the tree when thinning, and I still don't think I got enough. The tree just looks so heavy to me right now

[candaceplatt]

Great video, excellent timing, I was at a friend's house yesterday and we were discussing peach leaf curl and thinning peaches (we are in Maine, similar timing)! I also pull my peach leaf curled leaves and put them in my pocket to throw into trash so they don't further spread fungus - however I haven't been washing my hands after (oops!!) I'm wondering if there's an easy way to sanitize in the field (it's a long trip back to the house). I use IPA when pruning to clean tools to prevent diseast spread - I'm not a fan of hand sanitizer but I'm wondering if it might be worthwhile just for this use? Or (hopefully) maybe you have another better suggestion? Thanks!

[susieczellar]

Can I thin by removing blossoms or should I wait until the fruit begins to grow? Thank you very much for the information and video.

[unkzzz]

I've got one tree in particular that had bad curl earlier in the season. It's now showing a fair amount of new healthy growth and there are dead leaves all over the ground. Should I rake those up and remove them from the site? Any more advice on dealing with curl in general? The two trees next to it have only a very mild problem and I'm wondering if they are simply more resistant genetically or if it just hasn't spread yet...