How to plant and grow a peach?

The borders of fruit crops that are not typical for our latitudes are constantly expanding, and not only apples, pears, cherries and plums that are familiar to Russia, but also southern crops such as cherries, grapes, walnuts, and even peaches are growing more and more often in suburban areas.

Peaches are successfully grown not only in the south of our country, but also in other regions. This was made possible thanks to the efforts of breeders who create zoned varieties, as well as the proper planting and application of all agrotechnical rules.

One of the main conditions for the successful cultivation of peach is to meet the terms of planting. It can be planted in spring and autumn. Climatic conditions have a great influence on the characteristics of peach planting, which must be observed. For the middle zone and in the suburbs the best time to land is mid-April. For the Volga region, where early droughts often occur, the best time is the end of March. In the areas of the Urals and Siberia to plant a peach is recommended in late April.

Climatic conditions also affect seasonal planting of fruit. In the southern regions, the best option for this is autumn. In the northern regions, spring planting of seedlings is most appropriate, which will ensure good development of the root system and the beginning of active growth by winter. In the middle lane is desirable to plant in the spring, but it is possible in the fall.

The advantages of spring planting include the following:

• statistics show that seedlings planted in spring take root better than autumn ones;
• in spring and summer there is an opportunity to observe the growth of the peach, to timely eliminate the occurrence of harmful insects and the effects of drought, to cure diseases;
• the presence of moisture in the soil after the snow melts in the spring contributes to a better survival rate and reduces the adaptation time of the seedling after planting.

The lack of spring disembarkation lies in the fact that it is impossible to accurately determine its duration - it all depends on the climatic conditions of the region and the weather features of the current spring. In addition, in the hot summer, the bark and buds can dry out in the sun, which requires shading of the tree and constant maintenance of soil moisture. A weak sapling may be attacked by harmful insects and die. In the spring it is difficult to determine the actual condition of the seedling when it is purchased.

To a consensus, when planting peaches (autumn or spring), neither specialists nor amateurs came. Spring seedlings are threatened with death from pests, and autumn plants fail to adapt and survive the winter. Although the peach is a hardy crop and tolerates even -25 degrees, the kidneys and roots, which are located shallowly, still suffer from low temperatures.

The advantage of the autumn planting is that at this time the seedling comes to rest. In the "sleeping" peach all the forces go to the development of the root system. During the winter, it successfully takes root, and in the spring the peach is actively growing. In addition, there is no threat of attack by pests and rodents. When choosing a sapling in the fall, his condition is well defined by roots and shoots.

The negative point is that the peach can freeze if the frost comes too early.

For the southern regions of Russia, autumn planting is best carried out from 5 to 15 September. In the Crimea and Krasnodar Territory, it can be produced in the last decade of October, and with a long warm autumn - even in the first decade of November.

The time of autumn landing is determined, focusing on the possibility of the onset of frost. Peach is planted approximately 7-10 weeks before their occurrence - this will allow it to take root well.

An important role in whether the tree will take root or not, is played by planting material - seedlings. One-two-year saplings show the best result in survival. Their height should be 1-1.5 meters, and the thickness of the trunk - from about 1.5 to 2 cm. The height of the seedling over 1.5 m indicates that it was over-fed with nitrogen-containing fertilizers, and this affects the immunity of the tree.

When choosing a peach seedling, you need to pay attention to some factors.

• High-quality seedlings with a guarantee of vaccinations and zoned to the region can be bought only in proven fruit nurseries.
• A quality seedling branches and roots are alive, there are no dry shoots and signs of disease. The trunk should not be frostbite or affected by insect pests, and the number of shoots should be at least 4.
• A healthy seedling is distinguished by the elasticity of branches and roots, which do not break when bent. If you make a small scratch on the bark, then in a healthy seedling the wood will be beige and damp.
• A young tree should have a fairly developed root system and, apart from the main root, should have 2-3 side lengths of more than 35 cm.

• The surface of the bark of the entire seedling must be completely flat, homogeneous, without growths and not have signs of gum ache in the form of points, otherwise after a while the disease will spread throughout the seedling. The bark must be intact, without any damage.
• On the trunk, the site of vaccination should be well marked, but without growths and completely smooth. The gap from the root to vaccination should be more than 7 cm.
• The seedling should be in a “sleeping” state, without signs of vegetation.

If spring planting is planned, it is necessary to cut the trunk to a height of 80-90 cm, and shorten the side branches by a third. In addition, cut all the damaged roots until a white cut appears.

Autumn planting involves pruning only the roots, and the trunk with shoots are not pruned. If developed leaves are present on the tree, they are removed. This is to ensure that the trunk and side branches are dried up while the roots of the seedling are “asleep”.

Peaches are unpretentious to the type of soil - they can grow on any, but do not like sour and salt marshes. Best of all for this culture is suitable loamy soil, as well as black soil, while the acidity level should be small. It is not recommended to plant it on sandy, too wet soils or with close presence of groundwater. However, when creating a drainage can be successfully grown on such soils.

Land for peach planting is prepared in advance. For the spring planting of a seedling, land is prepared in the autumn, about six months. For autumn planting soil prepared for 20 days or a month. About 2 buckets of humus or a bucket of well-rotted compost and about 100 g of nitrophoska must be applied to the soil of a heavy type (any other complex mineral fertilizer is possible, but with a low nitrogen content). This will improve the ability of heavy clay soil to pass air and water.

The landing pit is also prepared in advance, since for the remaining period before planting, the soil in it will become more nutritious.A mixture of 10 kg of mullein, potash fertilizers (about 65 g), ammonium nitrate (80 g), superphosphates (150 g) and the top layer of the soil of the planting pit can be used to fertilize the soil of the planting pit. Then ash is added, and the black earth is covered with a layer of about 10 cm from the top. The prepared hole should be left for at least one month.

First of all, it is necessary to determine the place where the peach is planted. This heat-loving culture loves the sun, and this should be taken into account when planting. The best location for cultivation is sunny, inaccessible to winds areas in the south or south-west. Well, if the seedlings will grow on a hill, away from other fruit crops.

In places where strawberries, solanaceous, melons and gourds, as well as clover and alfalfa were previously grown, peaches can be grown only after three or four years, otherwise there is a threat of verticillus infection. It is not recommended to plant a peach next to the berry bushes (raspberries, currants and gooseberries) and fruit trees such as apples, pears, apricots, cherries, and walnuts.

The smallest distance between peach seedlings and any other crop should be at least 3 m. However, it should be noted that the peach planting pattern is influenced by the power of development of the selected variety, as well as the stock, shape, size of the crown and soil type. If the stock is well developed, and the crown will have a rounded shape, then the following planting pattern is recommended: the distance between seedlings should be about 3-4 meters, and the width of the aisle - within 5-6 meters. -shaped, the scheme is somewhat different: the interval between seedlings - 4.5 or 5 m, and between rows - 3-3.5. This option is also possible: 4 m - the distance between the trees and 2-1,5 m - the width of the aisle.

The dimensions of the pits for planting seedlings should correspond to the dimensions of its root system. The depth of planting is in direct proportion to the length of the main root, and it is usually 70 cm, and the width of the fossa is from 70 cm to 1 m. But the final size is formed during planting. A stake with a length of 1-1.5 cm or a lath up to 2 cm wide is placed in the middle of the pit so that it rises above the ground level by about half a meter.

The bottom of the pit is filled with drainage from sand, crushed stone with a layer of 10-15 cm - it will prevent stagnation of water in the soil, which means that the roots will not rot. Then they make a hill of the soil prepared in advance, on which the roots of the seedling are spread, covered with earth by 2/3, gently pressing it down, and watered with settled water. After the water is absorbed, the hole is finally filled. The root collar should not be immersed in the soil - it should be above the ground level at a distance of 4 cm. Fence near the seedling should be protected with an earthen border about 5 cm high and watered again.

At the end of planting, the tree is tied to a support, and the ground around the peaches is mulched with humus. To use for this sawdust or fresh mullein is strictly prohibited.

In the autumn planting, two pegs are driven into the hole on opposite sides of the seedling, to which a covering material is attached, closing the young tree. Bottom of shelter is covered with soil, and several holes are made from its southern side to provide seedling with access to fresh air. After the first snow spend additional warming.

Like any fruit tree, peach can be subjected to various diseases and the defeat of harmful insects. Sources of illness are fungal, viral, or bacterial infections. The description of diseases allows you to determine exactly what tree is affected.

• Leaf curl. Usually this disease develops in a long and rainy spring.The first sign of the disease is the appearance of light red bumps on the leaf surface, and it becomes uneven and wavy. Soon these bumps are increasing, and white bloom appears. The leaves turn brown and fall off, and only a few leaves remain on the tips. Shoots become thick, crooked and yellow. Treatment of leaf curl should begin after the fruits are collected during leaf fall. The tree is sprayed with copper oxychloride or Meteor. For the purpose of prophylaxis in the spring, when pink buds appear, repeat the treatment with agents containing copper. You can also use “Chorus”, “Skor”, adding “Delane”. Infected foliage is removed and burned.

• Mealy dew. The very first signs of this disease may appear from the end of April until the end of May. By the middle of summer, when the heat comes, the powdery mildew acquires the greatest scope. Symptoms of the disease is the appearance of a white velvety plaque on the inner surface of the foliage, on the fruit and on top of the shoots. Sprouts are deformed, slow down the development, and some of their areas are dying. Spraying after flowering with Topaz, Topsin M and Scor helps to fight the disease. Preventive measures include pruning of shoots infected with powdery mildew in the spring and autumn, gathering leaves and burning them. They dig up the ground around the peach.
• Moniliasis or fruit rot. Dried young and old branches appear on trees affected by this disease. Dark spots, increasing in size over time, cover the resultant fruit. The flesh of peaches becomes brown, rotten fruits become wrinkled and dry. Infected fruits can transmit the infection to healthy fruits. Fruit rot treatment consists of treating wood three times. The first time you need to use the tool "Chorus" before flowering during the appearance of pink buds, the second time - "Topaz", which must be applied at the end of flowering, and the third - 14 days after the second spraying. Infected parts of the tree are cut and burned.

• Cytosporosis. This fungal infection affects peach bast, a layer that separates bark from wood. Symptoms of the disease are manifested in the fact that the tops of the shoots wither and then dry. Brown spots and drips form on the bark. Gradually, the infection descends from the top down through the branches to the trunk, which threatens the tree with death. When such signs are first detected, these areas are immediately cut off. Depending on the scale of infection, if necessary, the entire skeletal branch must also be cut off, without leaving a single millimeter of infected bast. Treatment and preventive measures against cytosporosis consist in spraying Bordeaux mixture (3%) in the spring before bud break and repeat in the autumn during or after the foliage falls.

Below are the most common pests affecting peach.

• Aphid. It is of the following varieties: green, large peach, blood and black. Aphids can be easily detected by a cluster of colonies on the inside of the foliage or shoots. Small brown or green fleas are visible inside the colonies. The affected leaf is usually curled.

• Spider mite This insect feeds on peach juice, which not only reduces the yield, but also can lead to the death of the plant. The symptom of a lesion is the presence of a thin web. Penetrating into the leaves and flowers, the mite sucks the juice out of them. The peach starts to hurt and dies as a result. With a tick, methods such as whitewashing a booster, regular pruning of a tree, and the use of traps for insects help to fight.From chemical agents help drugs "Fitoverm", "Neoron" and "Apollo."
• Plum and eastern fruit moth. The moth is a small butterfly for which a peach is a source of food for its larvae and a place for their wintering. In early development, the caterpillars feed on peach stems, and when mature, they feed on bones. She spends the winter in a state of cocoon in cracks in the bark or in the foliage under a peach. To combat this pest, it is necessary to spray three times with an interval of two weeks with Karbofos, Chlorofos and Metaphos.

Properly care for a peach is necessary for the first 2-3 years. Care is the implementation of some agrotechnical rules.

• Watering should be carried out, not allowing the stagnation of the liquid, at least 2 times a month.
• Feedings are applied twice per season: the first time they use complex mineral fertilizers in the amount of 40 g per tree before blooming, the second time you need to fertilize in the 2nd decade of July with a mixture of phosphorus (50 g) and potassium (25 g).
• An adult tree needs to be fed three times, gradually increasing the volume of fertilizers to 200 g. One top dressing is carried out as spraying the crown or adding a glass of ash to the soil during watering. Once every 3-4 years, organic fertilizers (humus, bird droppings) are used in spring or autumn (after harvest) with 1-2 buckets under the tree. When using organic fertilizers, mineral substances are not applied.
• Mature trees every spring before bud break and in autumn after leaves fall, they are treated with Bordeaux mixture (2-3%). Perhaps the use of other products containing copper or zinc.
• During the growing season, it is effective to apply spraying with infusion of ash (1 cup per 10 liters of water) or boric acid with the addition of potassium permanganate and a few drops of iodine.
• An important condition for proper care is the formation of the crown, which begins the next year after disembarkation. At this time it is important to form a bridge and skeleton branches.
• Since the peach is a thermophilic culture, it must be warmed by winter. Peach beams are wrapped with a covering material (burlap, cardboard), on top of which polyethylene is fixed.

Depending on the variety, the peach fruiting period lasts from June to September. As a rule, they start gathering fruits when their coloring changes. For peaches with white flesh, the best time to harvest occurs when changing the green color to cream.

Peaches with yellowish pulp are harvested when they turn yellow. If the fruit is picked from the tree very early, then during storage it will become wrinkled, and overripe will rot early.

If transportation of fruit is supposed, they can be removed immature, and they ripen already plucked. In this case, the peaches should be firm, and the color - dim.

In the next video you will find the technology of growing peaches from planting seedlings to harvest.