Aged Peach Trees.

What should be done with peach trees 35 years old which are becoming unthrifty, bearing only at the ends of the limbs, etc.?

Old peach trees become bark-bound and need to be cut back to just above the crotch for the forcing out of new branches, this being facilitated, of course, by application of manure, good cultivation of the soil, use of water during the dry season, etc.  The peach is, under most conditions, not a long-lived tree, and if your trees are 35 years of age, it is probable that best results could be obtained by grubbing them out and replanting with young trees on new soil if possible.  The profitable life of the Eastern peach tree is put down at five or six years.  In California the profitable life of the peach sometimes reaches twenty or more years, if growing under exceptionally good conditions; but 35 years would seem to be at least on the borders of decrepitude.  Growing at the tips shows that you have not pruned annually to induce the growth of new wood lower down.

Renewing Peach Orchard.

Which is the best way to renew an old peach orchard?  The trees are about 18 years old, Muirs and Fosters, and are yielding good crops, but some of the trees show decline.  Is it best to replace the old ones with new trees or to plant a new orchard in between the old trees and cut out old ones when new trees are three or four years old?

If the trees have sound bodies and are not badly injured by sunburn borers, do none of the things you mention, but would cut back for a new head.  Cutting back should be done during the latter half of the dormant period and thinning of shoots to proper balance a new head should be carefully done the following winter.  It is a hard job to get young trees to start among old trees and you are apt to get a mixed lot of trees which you will not be proud of.  Cut back as suggested or rip out, plow deeply and start anew, placing the rows midway between the old rows.

Will He Have Peaches?

I have a young orchard between five and six years old, mostly of the Lovell variety.  I didn’t have much of a crop this year.  Should I have a good crop next year?

You ought to be able to tell now how full a set of fruit buds you have.  If you do not know what the fruit buds are, ask some neighbor who knows peaches to point them out.  If you have a good show of fruit buds, the question in California is not whether they will winter-kill or not, but whether the leaves held late enough the preceding summer and therefore the tree had strength enough to make good strong fruit buds.  The late action of the leaves shows that the trees had enough autumn moisture.  You will soon learn to recognize the condition also from the plumpness of the wood which carries the fruit buds.  If all has gone well so far, the next point is to spray with the bordeaux mixture in November or December so that the new wood shall not be attacked by the peach