Proper and high-quality care for the peach orchard in the fall is the key to an excellent future peach crop, and because of what activities have been done, it depends on how easily the peach will suffer the winter cold and temperature changes.
Let's start with the soil
Preparing a peach for the onset of cold weather begins with the preparation of the soil. Peach garden dig as late as possible, lumps are not broken, this is done to ensure that pests that go deep into the soil, died.
Dig the site is best shovel. Digging on a full bayonet, very tight. The degree of exposure to water and low temperatures depends on this. Frost, loosening the dug up layer, allows moisture without obstacles to leak into the ground.
Do you need fertilizers
The second step in preparing the garden for winter is fertilization. Feeding peach begins with the application of mineral fertilizers. They are recommended to make in pristvolny wells, the depth of which is up to 25 cm, and the distance from the stem to 30 cm. The bottom of the grooves is filled with phosphorus fertilizers, then potash fertilizers are added. Each layer of fertilizer is poured by a layer of earth about 4 cm.
In the fall they also make nitrogen fertilizers.. Their quantity, as well as mineral, depends on the age of the peach tree.
Under the young trees, whose age is up to two years, make about 10 kg of compost or manure, 80 grams of superphosphate, 30 grams of potassium salt.
A tree that has reached the age of 3-4 years needs 15 kg of manure, 60 grams of ammonium nitrate, 120 grams of superphosphate and almost 50 grams of potash salt. A peach, at the age of 5-6 years old, requires manure up to 30 kg, superphosphate up to 180 grams, and potash salt up to 70 grams. The width of the groove around the trunk should be equal to three meters.
An adult tree, that is, which has reached 7 years old, needs 30 kg of manure, 120 grams of ammonium nitrate, 250 grams of superphosphate, 90 grams of potassium salt. For a peach tree at the age of 9-10 years, the rate of fertilizer doubles.
In addition to the application of mineral and organic fertilizers in the fall, foliar peach subcortex is used. Trees are sprayed with a solution of urea, or a mixture of superphosphate, urea, potassium salt, boric acid, as well as potassium permanganate and zinc sulfate, which is diluted in 10 liters of water.
Little about loosening
Such a procedure as loosening can provide air entry into the groundand provide the soil with enough oxygen. Under the loosening imply the destruction of the surface crust of the earth. Also, loosening contributes to the removal of all weeds, from the ground choose all large roots.
Loosened soil best absorbs life-giving moisture with watering or after rain.
The soil is loosened by tools such as a hoe, a flat cutter, you can use hand cultivators or rakes. Some gardeners instead of loosening the soil, use such a method as covering the soil with mulch, under it the land crust is not formed.
Now about watering
One of the most important stages in preparing the peach for winter is considered to be moisture irrigation. After watering, the ground should be moistened to a depth of 70 cm. The earth under the tree crown is loosened for excellent absorption of precipitation and melt water.
Watering the trees before the first frost. Watering the peach at a later time can lead to freezing of the tree.
In late and warm autumn, 600 cu. m / ha of water. Since most of the peach roots are located shallowly, up to 60 cm in depth, a small amount of water is used for irrigation. It is necessary to water in moderation, because abundant watering can lead to waterlogging of soils.
Subwinter irrigation is not used in gardens with heavy clay soils, and in areas that are located in lowlands. It will be appropriate in areas with sandy or podzolic soil.
Podzimny irrigation used in late October or in early November, it is at this time of the year that there is no likelihood of tree growth. The fruit tree after the end of winter begins to develop well.
The basic rule that must always be remembered is that the peach likes abundant watering, but does not like water stagnation.
Cut the peach correctly
In order to achieve stable, high yields of peach, they are pruning the tree in the autumn, as this is a necessary and important element when it is grown.
Pruning of trees begins with the arrival of autumn, i.e., from September to mid-October.
With the onset of autumn, pruning is carried out in order for the tree to heal its wounds.
There are such types of pruning as:
- Sanitary pruning is carried out in order to remove diseased branches and those that have shrunk. They are removed and then burned.
- Forming pruning in the autumn is carried out only in the south, and on terrain with a cold climate - in the spring. Remove overgrown, strong branches to avoid competition with skeletal branches.
- Anti-aging pruning is done for old trees. Her task is to update the peach crown and cupping it.
- In order for the peach tree to bear fruit for a long time, it is necessary to carry out a regulatory pruning, it is necessary to remove a part of the branching branch.
- Restorative pruning increases the fruiting of the tree (branches are removed).
Go to the protection
First about sun protection
Sudden temperature fluctuations and adverse winter conditions can affect the appearance of peach sunburn. Damage gets bark, branches, trunk, and sometimes the root system. Often also occurs the freezing of fruit buds.
A damaged root system can die even with small frosting, their growth is reduced, the leaves become light green in color. Sunburn can be obtained in autumn and winter, and even in early spring.
The cause of burns can be safely considered watering a tree with water in insufficient and uneven quantities. On lean soils, burns appear more often and more severely. Especially often damaged peach seedlings.
To protect the peach tree from sunburn in the fall, you need to whiten the stumps and the base of the skeletal branches of young trees, and those that bear fruit. For whitewashing use slaked lime. They recommend spraying peach with lime milk to achieve a more effective result, which contributes to the protection of fruit buds and bark.
In the young garden of peaches, tree trunks are advised to wind for the winter with stalks of sunflower, corn, fir spruce branches or thick paper. Also, the protection of the tree from sunburn is also influenced by the timely cultivation of the soil, moderate watering, fertilization, in the quantities necessary for the tree.
Keep the peach from the cold
Peach needs protection from the winter cold. He is covered. The degree of shelter in the area where it grows depends on climatic weather conditions, on the level of protection of the garden from the winds. Shelter can be permanent and temporary. To preserve heat in the root system, you need to make a mound in height up to 30 cm, it must be above the scion, around the peach trunk. The tree is covered with sacking for the winter, it is wrapped around the seedling.
Sometimes the peach tree is covered in a rather original way. A cardboard box is put on it, in which hay is pre-filled. It is cheap and interesting. Cover trees need breathing materials, or make holes.
Pest and disease control
Peach most of all falls ill with diseases such as leaf curl, powdery mildew, moniliosis, and cluespora.
But, the main disease is leaf curl. To avoid its occurrence, the tree needs to be sprayed with fungicides. A solution of copper sulphate is excellent, or use Bordeaux mixture. In autumn, the trees begin to spray after all the leaves have fallen.
Cooking a peach for winter
Preparing a peach for the onset of the winter period of time includes many complex procedures. This is not only spraying wood Bordeaux mixture, which is used after the fall of all the leaves from the tree, but many other procedures. The peach is watered in the autumn, and the tree trunk is mulched with sawdust.
The peach tree must be whitened, not only the trunk, but also the skeletal branches. Whitewashing is done both in autumn and in warm winter. It also does not give the tree an early start to the growing season. Peach whiten solutionconsisting of lime and blue vitriol, which are diluted in a bucket of water. For the best fastening of this mix add a laundry soap.
The next step is to warm the wood. This is a very serious moment, because how well the wood is insulated depends on how it will survive the winter.
The roots are insulated with a small amount of manure., but you can ash. But, if there is neither manure nor ash, ordinary land will do as well. Then the peach trunk is wrapped with reeds, straw, they need to be tied with a rope to a tree.
It is not recommended to plant peach seedlings for the winter, because they will have less chances for easy wintering.
After the leaves fall, all the peach trees need to be very carefully examined, shears to remove diseased and dried branches, cover all sections with garden pitch or oil paint. Leaves and fruits that have fallen, as well as cut branches are removed, collected and burned.
To destroy the spores of fungal diseases, the tree should be washed very well with copper sulphate solution or soon. But, it is possible and other fungicides.
