Hi...i bought a "donut" peach tree several months back....planted it in full sun in the back yard (i live in the new orleans area). it flowered and now i have a ton of small peaches growing, which i am happy about. the tree is about six feet tall. my question is: the tree has two shoots coming from the bottom of the trunk of the tree which should be removed. each shoot is about three feet long. i don't want to do anything to "shock" the tree, so when would be the right time, if there is a "right time", to remove these shoots? thank you for any available advice. i guess i should mention....reason for removing the shoots....it looks like a bush now as opposed to a tree which is what i am shooting for.....lost all my trees to hurricane katrina and trying to replace them. thanks again.
Here (West Coast of Canada) I do all my fruit tree pruning when the trees are dormant, late winter and very early spring. I have gone in and done some summer pruning with no ill effects though. Two small suckering branches shouldn't cause your tree to go in to shock by removing them. Another thing I do in my garden when I have put my plants under undue stress is to give them a drench of liquid fertilizer. Something slow and easy like 4*2*3. None of this 20*20*20 Hope this helps. Jan
