Should I take my peach tree back to the nursery?

[XemaSab]

I got a bareroot peach tree a few months ago.

When I got it, the lady who sold it to me INSISTED on cutting off ALL the branches back to the trunk, so I basically took home a pole with some roots on it.

Several months later, there are NO signs of growth except a few leaves starting at the graft line.

I'm really pissed she cut off all the branches like that, but she acted like she knew what she was doing.

Should I take the tree back, or give it a few more weeks?

And how big of a stink should I make? I am thinking that instead of a refund, I should ask for a tree in a pot, 'cause I want a damn peach tree. :grr:

[pleah]

1. I would take it back.

I have never heard of doing that to a fruit tree.

[Blue Gardener]

2. Take it back

I've never heard of doing that either.

[HamdenRice]

3. She was probably right

Let me preface this by saying I've never grown a fruit tree. I've been thinking about it for years, and have been reading books about growing fruit trees.

The one on my desk right now is "The Backyard Orchadist." The first thing they tell you to do is prune the tree back to basically a stick with roots as you describe yours. Maybe later I'll post some diagrams from the book.

As counter-intuitive as it seems, that's supposedly what you are supposed to do. Growing fruit on trees, is actually pretty complicated and takes a lot of patience. One of the things the book emphasizes is very strict management of the limbs because various trees have complicated fruiting habits -- like only certain twigs of a certain age make fruit.

Also that severe cutback enables you to manage the growth of major limbs in a way that maximizes light to the leaves, and minimizes the chance that heavily fruited limbs will break off or damage the trunk.

My mother had a fruit tree once and she just let it grow "wild". It never produced a single fruit, so I'm inclined to believe that this kind of management is important.

So overall, she probably did know what she was doing. The only thing that surprised me is that she did it for you rather than telling you that you had to do it when you got home.

[HamdenRice]

4. OK, here's a typical diagram

along with a little text. I would recommend buying a book. The whole things sounds pretty complicated.



On edit: If you have leaves near the graft line, I think you're supposed to cut them off too! They're called "suckers" and may be growing from the root stock rather than the fruit stock, and will drain energy from the places where you want it.

[XemaSab]

7. I did some online research and yes, "whipping" is a not uncommon way to prune trees

There seems to be some disagreement about whether the branches should be cut back flush with the trunk, or whether a few buds should be left on each branch.

Such as it were, it looks to me like all the buds coming off the trunk have already grown into branches. If it was done improperly, then she left NO meristematic tissue on the tree, and I may as well pull it out and throw it in the green waste.

I think I'll give the tree another month before I take it back, just in case there are buds there that I'm not seeing. But I looked really carefully, and while there are plenty of twig scars, there are no visible buds.

[HamdenRice]

10. I didn't mean to suggest...

that just because standard practice is to severely prune, that every sales person who severely prunes gets it right.

Looks like you've done some research and she may have gone overboard.

To be honest, I've thought about it for about 4 years, but the complexity of the whole thing is daunting.

A few weeks ago we were discussing the book "5 Acres and Independence" here and one of the things I remember about that book was the author's stories of neglected orchards and how they don't produce fruit, and how a good farmer can come and prune them and get them going.

The weird thing is that it sounds like fruit production from trees is about as far from natural as you can get -- unlike my tomatoes, which are pretty easy. There's all this stuff about labeling shoots and timing when they produce fruit and cutting off the shoots, twigs etc, that are beyond their producing years.

I don't know how a farmer with an orchard full of trees could possibly do it.

[XemaSab]

11. Not to mention the fact that the "farmer" who does the pruning

is likely to be a Mexican migrant who's never been to that field before in his life. :shrug:

I was pulled out of a creek last year by a prune farmer, and I wish I has asked her how she did it. But it wasn't on my mind at the time, ya know? :D

[HamdenRice]

13. "pulled out of a creek last year by a prune farmer"??

Without context, I can't tell you how funny this image is.

I see someone floating face down, down a creek. Prune farmer comes along pulls him out. Near drowning victim spits out creek water, coughs, turns around and says, "thanks -- and by the way, how to you whip a plum tree"?

I assume you mean someone towed your car?

[XemaSab]

14. Yes, someone towed the car

:D

[HamdenRice]

5. Kick because I'm curious -- did you take back the tree? Or buy a book? nt

[hippywife]

6. Then you probably didn't want

a bareroot seedling. That's the way they come.

[XemaSab]

8. It wasn't that tiny

It was 6 feet tall before it got whacked. :shrug:

[hippywife]

12. Hmmm.

How long are you able to take it back? Maybe give it a little more time? :shrug:

Hope it turns out well for you. :hug:

[XemaSab]

15. I have spent HUNDREDS of dollars at that nursery

and the owner KNOWS me.

I think I can take it back in a month. ;)

[NJCher]

16. it would be good to call the owner

and advise him or her of the problem. Tell just what you have told us. They may have some helpful input and in any event, they won't be too surprised when you show up next month with your "stick" in the trunk,if that's what it comes to.

I'm a webmaster for a nursery, so I pick up a few things here and there. So that's my two cents worth.

[Gormy Cuss]

9. XemaSab, your peach tree should have new whips and be leafed out by now.

That's what happened the first spring after I planted my peach tree. In the illustration Hamden scanned, the second drawing depicts the way I pruned it after planting -- I did not cut off every branch.

Give it a few more weeks before taking it back. This rainy period followed by some warmth ought to stimulate growth.

Peach trees are hard to start in my neck of the woods because of the stem borers and leaf curl. My tree is pretty sad looking but it is starting to produce more fruit.