RESPONSES OF PEACH-TREES TO MODIFIED PRUNING .1. VEGETATIVE GROWTH

An experiment on 5-year-old 'Qing-feng' and 6-year-old 'Yan-hong' peach trees (Prunus persica L.) compared a dormant ''long pruning'' (LP) treatment with a traditional ''short pruning'' (SP) treatment near Beijing, China. The responses of tree vegetative growth were studied on length and number of new shoots, seasonal evolution of leaf number, distribution and general growth evolution of new shoots along 1-year-old wood, and rejuvenation of wood older than 1-year-old. Results showed that LP had several advantages over SP: moderate vegetative growth of tree, resulting in reduced average length of new shoots and total growth of new shoots per tree; more rapid foliage development in the early growing season; and enhanced capacity for shoot rejuvenation, i.e., more new shoots occurring from wood older than 1 year. Moreover, in contrast to the SP trees, the longest new shoots on LP trees occurred at the basal position of 1-year wood. The LP method for pruning peach trees may therefore be superior to than the traditional SP technique, especially in regions where climate and soil type favor vigorous tree growth.