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Show Horticulturist Offers Suggestions To Vashington County Fruit Growers Prompt Action Must Be Taken To Improve Crop Declares Mr. Stark BY A. STARK Extension Horticulturist "-y C' This year a number of new peach ci trees have been planted in Wash- to- ington county. Stome of these have been pruned correctly, some too severely, and sAne not at all. Trees that are rSt pruned at all, or still have sidi1 branches, are "ct very likely to make a poor start i or die completely before the summer sum-mer is over. To avoid this trouble growers should get busy now and prune the J young trees. Do not delay! Proper pruning of these new trees consists of cutting all side branches back to stubs- one or "3 two inches long. The remaining whip should be headed back to about four feet if over six feet in height. If shorter than four feet in height no more than a foot should be cut from the tip t and on small; trees no tip cutting u is necessary oj When treg; are pruned by this i method it iSvery important that part of the new. green shoots be removed as soon as they are an inch or so in length so that the growth will be forced into the shoots that remain as permanent branches. The shoots left to form side branches should be selected re so that they are well spaced up k and down the trunk and around the tree. All leaves and shoots near the very tip of the whip should be allowed to grow. Trees pruned in this manner grow rapidly rapid-ly and form strong trees that fruit early. Another item that needs at-( at-( Continued on page eight) Peach Pointers (Continued from first page) tention badly now is the peach aphids. These are the very small green or black pests that cause the leaves of peach and plum trees to curl up and drop off. The best time to kill these pests is when the lime-sulfur spray is applied ap-plied just before blossoming, but they can be partially controlled now. Add three-fourths of a pint of nicotine sulfate (black-leaf-40), plus four pounds of spray soap to each 100 gallons of water to control con-trol this pest. This material may be put in the lead-arsenate spray for twig borer which should be applied in about a week, or when the husks fall from the small fruits. Need Care Because of little or no pruning and less cultivation and fertilization fertiliza-tion "Dixie" peach growers can again look forward to small peaches at harvest time. With all the trouble you growers have had with small fruit I cannot understand under-stand why you don't do something some-thing about it. In the last two days I have been in dozens of peach orchards and there is not a single one that will produce a fall crop of good sized fruit. Some of the trees have received no pruning at all and many not enough to make any material difference dif-ference in shoot growth. It takes an average of from 10 to 20 inches of good strong new shoot growth every year to produce a full crop of good sized fruit. If your trees did not have this much growth last fall you are going to have lower yields than you should get, or smaller sized fruit. There are two ways to get this growth: By heavy pruning and fertilization. Since it is now too late to prune bearing trees, fertilization ferti-lization is advisable. Apply two to three pounds of ammonium sulfate sul-fate under the branches of each tree to increase the size of your fruit this year. Be sure to use the correct fertilizer and be surer to get it on right now. Barnyard manure is fine for peach trees but it will not help the size of this year's fruit if applied now, while the commercial fertilizer will be taken up by the tree as soon as it is wet. And finally, Dixie peach growers, grow-ers, don't plant your trees and leave it to God to take care of them. By the neglected appearance appear-ance of many orchards this is exactly what is done. If your peach orchard is not worth attention at-tention and proper care pull it up and give other growers a chance to make a living growing peaches. Proper care consists of more than irrigation and picking the fruit. It means controlling your pests, pruning, cultivation, fertilization, ferti-lization, and all the other orchard operations that will make good sized nuality fruit. Let's build the reputation of Dixie peaches to a high level where marketing is no longer a problem because consumers con-sumers demand your fruit for its superior quality. |