Everything you need to learn about cultivating peach organically. Learn about:- 1. Introduction to Peach 2. Climate and Soil Required for Peach 3. Propagation, Rootstocks, Planting and Spacing 4. Training, Pruning and Canopy Management 5. Nutrient Management and Management Practices 6. Weed Control 7. Harvesting 8. Varieties.
Contents:
- Introduction to Peach
- Climate and Soil Required for Peach
- Propagation, Rootstocks, Planting and Spacing of Peach
- Training, Pruning and Canopy Management of Peach
- Nutrient Management and Management Practices of Peach
- Weed Control of Peach
- Harvesting of Peach
- Varieties of Peach
1. Introduction to Peach:
Peach (Primus persica) is a highly valued table fruit because of its attractive colour and palatability. Peaches are rich source of sugars, minerals and protein. Peach is one of the important temperate fruits, the culture of which has found a reasonable place in the subtropics too and are grown on considerable scale in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab to even Khasi Hills in Meghalaya at an elevation of 1000-2000m above mean sea level.
There are quite large variations in the climatic adaptation of peach cultivars to various regions. The commercial varieties of subtropical areas are different than those having high chilling requirements grown in temperate zones.
Low chilling peaches are grown in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh. Peaches hold a great promise because of their utilization for canning purpose. Even for diversification peach culture holds great promise. The Nectarine is a fuzzless peach, smooth skinned, firm fleshed, usually smaller in size and may possess stronger flavour and aroma.
Many peach growers have recently introduced its cultivation in Himachal Pradesh. Peaches are also grown on limited scale in hills of south India and north-eastern region of the country. Peaches are grown in India on an area of 19,240 ha with a production of 97,940 tons (2012- 13). In Punjab it is grown in an area of 1,583 ha (2008).
2. Climate and Soil Required for Peach:
Peach requires the warmest climate among the temperate fruits and is generally grown in lower and mid-hills (1000-2000m above mean sea level) except for varieties belonging to Florida group can be grown under subtropical conditions. Peaches are very sensitive to low temperature injury and swelling buds are injured below-6.5°C. Hilly areas, which are free from early spring frost, are most suitable for peach as it blooms early in the season. The land with gentle slope is ideal.
Low chilling peaches require up to 300 hrs of chilling temperature during winter months to break the rest period. This requirement of meeting 300 hrs of chilling temperatures is also met in plains of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. Deep sandy loam soils rich in organic matter and well drained are most suitable for peach cultivation. Peaches are highly susceptible to water logging and require good drainage. The ideal pH of soils should be maintained between 5.8 and 6.8.
3. Propagation, Rootstocks, Planting and Spacing of Peach:
Peach is commercially propagated through grafting or budding. Extract stones from ripe peach fruits (any peach variety) in June-July. In Punjab, stones of Sharbati variety are commonly used. In hills, even stones from wild peach species are used.
Wild peach species produce more vigorous and hardy seedlings as rootstocks, than cultivated varieties. Wash the stones and dry them in shade. Treat the stones with a mixture of Trichoderma viride and Pseudomonas fluorescens @ 8-10 g each per kg of stones and store them in cool dry place.
Before sowing, stones are stratified at 4-10°C for 10-12 weeks by placing them in alternate layers of moist sand in wooden boxes. When stone germination starts in upper layer, it is considered that dormancy of seeds has been broken.
Germinating stones are separated very carefully from each layer without causing any damage to radicle or plumule and sown in raised beds in rows 30 cm apart keeping 15 cm distance between stones. Sowing is usually done in February.
Budding or grafting is common propagating method for peach. Seedlings become ready in 10 months or so and tongue or cleft grafting can be done in December- January months whereas T-budding is performed in May-June months.
Planting and Spacing:
Usually pits of size 1m x 1m x 1m are dug much in advance and top soil is put on one side. Topsoil is mixed with 25-30 kg F.Y.M. along with 50 g each of Trichiodertna viride and Pseudomonas fluorescens. Planting is usually done in December-January. Before planting bare rooted plants are dipped in 5% bleaching powder solution or 5% solution of Trichoderma viride and Pseudomonas fluorescens for controlling crown gall and gummosis diseases.
Alternatively roots can also be dipped in 2% solution of garlic, clove and cinnamon oil. Spacing is usually kept at 6.5 m x 6.5 m in square system of planting in the plains. In hilly areas peach is planted at a spacing of 4.5m x 4.5m. The peach plants can also be planted at a spacing of 6 x 1.5 m or 5 x 1.5 m with ‘Y’ system of training accommodating 1100 or 1300 plants per hectare.
Under organic management high planting density and meadow orcharding is not feasible, as close planting leads to multiplication of pests and diseases at a faster rate. Wide spacing of 6.5m x 6.5m or 6.5m x 5m along with canopy management practices should be the preferred approach.
4. Training, Pruning and Canopy Management of Peach:
Peach trees are trained on modified leader and open center systems. Peaches require heavy and regular pruning as fruiting occurs laterally only on previous seasons growth. In peach, fruit is borne on one year old branches. Thus peach pruning has two important components i.e. thinning out of shoots which are expected to bear fruit and heading back of old and unsuitable branches so that new one year old branches are created for next year.
The best time of pruning is during January. In addition to this, diseased, dried, parallel and criss-crossing branches and water sprouts are removed in time before there is congestion in plants. After pruning cuts of thick branches should be painted with 10% Bordeaux paste.
Irrigation:
Fruit development period in peach starts from April and continues up to June. This is the most critical period during which there should be no soil moisture stress, otherwise there will be fruit drop and fruit size will decrease. Frequent irrigations are required during this phase of fruit development. Even in hills if possible 2-3 irrigations are necessary during this period. The drip irrigation is also being practiced in hills by some of the innovative peach growers.
5. Nutrient Management and Management Practices of Peach:
Peach trees at yield levels of about 7-8 tons/ha remove approximately 55-60 kg N, 15-20 kg P2O5 and 70-90 kg K2O, per hectare out of which nearly 75% of N can be returned back to the orchard in the form of leaves, flowers and thinned fruits, which can be ploughed back to the orchard soil directly.
While in case of potash nearly 40% is permanently lost in the form of harvested fruits. In case of calcium and magnesium, although removal is almost 40 kg and 12 kg respectively but over 90% is returned to the orchard soil through fallen leaves, flowers, fruits and pruning.
This removal pattern is to be kept in mind while calculating the need for nutrient management from external sources. In organic farming systems entire biomass from fallen leaves, flowers, fruits, pruning, weeds and cover crops etc. need to be used as mulch and treated with Jivamrit.
Application of dolomite @ 2.0 tons/ha once in 2-3 years compensates the loss of calcium and magnesium. Biomass recycling needs to be done at least 3 times in a year during December, late February and May-June. Cover crops grown in interspaces need to be mowed down and incorporated in the soil.
Clover (Trifolium) or any other suitable legume crop can be grown as green manure in the alleys or interspaces with very high seed rate. This will not allow any space for weeds to emerge. Once the crop is about 8-10 inches it should be incorporated in the soil.
Considering the biomass recycled, and the nutrients being recycled the short fall is calculated and applied as combination of various organic inputs. Normally if entire orchard biomass is recycled and at least two cycles of cover crop are used as green manure, only 40-50% of nitrogen and 60% of potash is to be replenished. Fertilizer recommendations under conventional management can also be taken into account for organic nutrient calculation point of view.
Under conventional management a full-grown peach plant is applied with 40-50 kg FYM along with 500 gm of nitrogen, 150-200 gm of P2O5 and 600-700 gm of K2O per plant per year, while full quantity of FYM, phosphorus and potash is applied as soil application during December. Nitrogen is divided into 2 splits; first dose is applied before flowering during January-February and remaining half after one month.
Keeping all above in mind two organic nutrient management schedules are suggested, one for rainfed systems and another for integrated input intensive irrigated systems. Considering the nutrient release pattern by the manures and requirement of nutrients by plants at different stages, plants are provided with manures as soil application and foliar feeding as aerial spray on leaves.
Foliar feeding solution comprises of Vermiwash (5%) or Panchagavya (3%) or farm made protein hydrolysate (4-5 ml/lit of water). Any one or combination of two or all can be used depending upon the requirement.
Most of the peach varieties are very heavy yielders and if all the fruits are allowed to remain on trees, then the fruit size and quality decreases. Over bearing also weakens the tree. In such overbearing orchards, hand fruit thinning is done after 20-30 days of fruit set. Keep the spacing between fruits at 5 to 7.5 cm.
6. Weed Control of Peach:
Weeds compete with peach trees for soil moisture and nutrients and must be controlled by hand weeding and thereafter by mulching with grass or polythene sheets. Keeping basins free of weeds during fruit set period to fruit development stage is very necessary. It will be appropriate to grow cover or leguminous crops like sunhemp, Trifolium (clover), beans and pulses according to the situation, season and climate.
Green manure crops can be ploughed in the soil to improve the soil fertility and soil’s biological activity. Cover crops also help in management of weeds and conservation of soil moisture. Nutrient and pest and disease management needs of cover/green manuring crops must be looked into.
7. Harvesting of Peach:
All peaches do not ripen on trees at the same time and need to be harvested in 3-4 pickings. For distant markets, peaches should be harvested when hard and firm. For local market, fruit may be picked at nearly ripe stage. The average yield of fully grown trees of different varieties varies. In rainfed slope plantations 7-8 tons/ha and in plains about 15-20 tons/ha yield can be obtained.
Fruits after harvesting are collected in plastic crates by putting some cushioning material at the bottom to prevent injury or bruises to fruits. The plastic crates are shifted to shady place before shifting to pack house. Before packing, damaged and under sized fruits are eliminated and fruits are graded manually according to size. Different grades of fruits are packed separately for getting better price.
Commercially accepted fruit grades are – special (5.5 to 6.3 cm and above), Grade -I (4.6 to 5.5 cm) and Grade- II (below 4.6 cm). Fruits are packed in 2 and 4 kg corrugated fiber board boxes. Ideal temperature for peach in cold store is 0
8. Varieties of Peach:
Peach varieties are classified into two groups i.e. varieties for mid hills and low chilling varieties:
(a) Mid hill varieties for J&K, HP and Uttarakhand – Red Haven, Sun Haven, July Elberta, J.H. Hale, Shimizu Hakuto, Alton, World’s Earliest, Early White Giant, Saharanpuri, Prabhat
(b) Low chilling varieties for Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh – Florda Sun, Florda Red, Florda Prince, Shane-e-Punjab, Sharbati and Pratap.
-0.3 °C with 85-90% RH and can be stored up to 25 days.