peach tree

[janeyo]

Hi I have just planted my peach tree in a large pot. (Not happy with mum, the parcel came to hers and she didn't know what it was so left in in her lounge propped against the radiator for days without telling me! Duh.)

Do I need to stake it if it's in a pot?

Thanks

janeyo

[Nicos]

No idea...but when in doubt......

[Paul Wagland]

The point of staking (as I'm sure you know) is to stop the tree moving about in the wind - particularly when you have loosened the soil around the roots by planting it. I would stake it if possible, but obviously in a pot the stake is quite likely to move along with the tree.... not much solid ground to drive the stake into.

Keeping it out of the wind would be a good idea, then you should avoid the cause of the problem.

Our peach tree was fruiting beautifully last year, until a thicko builder working next door knocked a tile over the wall and onto the tree and all the fruit fell off. You should have heard the telling off I gave 'im!

[janeyo]

Thanks, it seems quite secure in the pot but it does get windy along some bits of the garden so I will watch where I put it. Some of the big pots do blow over sometimes but not had trees in pots so don't know if it will blow that over too.
Have got it along a wall at the mo to try and absorb any heat from the that. I have moved it into the garage tonight as didn't want the shock of being a) planted and b) v cold here tonight to kill it so soon.

I was going to wrap it in fleece but was unsure how to go about this. Do I wrap the pot? The plant and pot? Just the plant? Do I do it round and round? Never wrapped a plant up in a fleece before, lol. By the time I had stood there wondering so long, it was so cold I just moved in the garage instead!

janeyo

[Paul Wagland]

It's not so much the pot blowing over that I would worry about (although that would also be bad!). It's more that a tree which moves in the wind will not establish strong roots - they'll always be loose in the soil. If you're keeping the pot close to a wall I would put a decent sized vine-eye or a staple on the wall and tie the tree to that (using something soft like old tights).

[sunflower]

Woolworths is selling Peach trees and I was sooo tempted! So, would I need to keep the Peach tree in the warm during winter months? I have an old conservatory....the temp. in winter goes down to about 4c. Is that too cold? Mind you, it is so hot in there during the summer. My back garden faces South East and we have a very high wall on one side that naughty neighbours built.....but has come in handy to shelter chooks and maybe Peach tree??

[SimonCole]

We have an exposed outdoor tree coming up for 10 years old. It gives us barrels of fruit each year! The key is to water from february and water well, not so much our climate.

[sunflower]

Thanks......maybe I'll go for it then!

[Waffler]

Ooh! I'm a bit excited now. I saw a peach tree for sale in Wilkinsons and thought 'nah - too cold' but just thought I'd have a little looky see on here! So maybe I could have one after all.
Is yours planted in the ground Simoncole or just potted up and not moved to a more sheltered location in the winter.
Also, do I need more than one for pollination or is it enough that there are other fruit trees in the vicinity?
Also, how soon before we get fruit? No idea how old the trees are, but I'm guessing they're all much of a muchness: it stood 5 or 6 feet tall and was barerooted.
Sorry for all the Qs, but I'm excited to think I could add to my fruit production further still (just bought 2 patio fig trees today!)

[SimonCole]

It was planted straight into the ground and is on a big rootstock. The tree is now about 20ft tall (with pruning) and grows in a goblet shape on what could be called a half-standard. I see people trying to do trees in pots for the bother of five or six fruit, but for the sake of a bit of space we get fruit in the hundreds. We moved into the house about 6 years ago and the tree was about 5 years old. On the first two years of our move we saw little fruit but by the third we had buckets full.

They flower very early, but this coincides with local wild plums, hence the bees are out and pollination is normally quite good. There are no peach trees within miles of us so it is self-fertile and I would guess that most are. People tend to attribute fruit failure to either poor pollination or frost. I tend to find the only problems are with lack of rain or poor pruning.

I run a hose to the tree in February when the tree first flowers to fruiting and water well whenever we lack rain... for say an hour.

Pruning is tricky. For best results I recommend establishing a branching structure over the first five or six years. Then you need to remove two-thirds of the new wood, leaving one-third to fruit. There are no spurs like you have with apples and fruiting is on two-year old wood.
There is an old saying that a pigeon should be able to fly through after you've pruned. Pruning is best in leaf to avoid disease (peach leaf curl and cankers).

[Waffler]

Hmm... 5 or 6 fruit hardly seems worth it does it. Maybe I'll hold out for a 'proper' tree. Though it's not exactly like I'm short of fruit OR things to do, so maybe I'll put it on the backburner for now!
Thanks for your help.