Growing a peach tree in your yard is something that can make you very happy. Not only are peach trees quite beautiful, but you’ll eventually be able to harvest delicious peaches.
There are all sorts of peach recipes out there that will allow you to bake tasty treats. Your mouth might be watering just thinking about the day when you’re finally able to make a peach pie with peaches from your own tree.
If you just recently planted a peach tree, then you might have to wait a while before that day will come. When you’ve never planted a tree like this before, you might not be too sure about how long it takes to grow.
How fast do peach trees grow? When will you be able to expect fruit to start growing on your tree?
Read on to get more information about peach trees and how they grow. It’ll help you to understand what to expect.
The Growth Rate of Peach Trees
When you take the time to care for peach trees properly, it’s going to be possible to see them grow 18 inches each year. This does mean that it will take quite some time for a sapling to grow into a full-sized tree.
A standard peach tree will reach heights between 18 and 20 feet. It should also be just as wide.
There are also smaller peach trees out there if you don’t want to have such a big tree. Semi-dwarf peach trees will often grow to be 12 feet tall at maximum growth.
Dwarf peach trees are substantially shorter and will only reach heights of six feet tall in most instances. You should consider the available space in your yard when deciding which peach tree you’d like to plant.
To keep the peach tree growing as well as it possibly can, it’s essential to fertilize the tree. Keep reading to learn a bit about the fertilization process.
How to Fertilize a Peach Tree
Fertilizing a peach tree is going to help it to grow as fast as it can. People use fertilizer to help ensure that the peaches on the tree will be as big and delicious as possible, too.
Generally, peach trees are meant to be fertilized twice per year. You fertilize the tree the first time during the early spring, and then you do it again during the early days of summer.
If you just planted your peach tree, then it’s recommended to fertilize it one week after planting it. This helps the tree to establish itself quite a bit.
It’s best to use a balanced fertilizer for this process. Most enthusiasts choose a 10-10-10 fertilizer that has the perfect mix of potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus.
During the fertilization process, it’s best not to place the fertilizer too close to the trunk. Instead, you should fertilize the tree about 10 inches away from the trunk.
It keeps you from damaging the tree in any way while still ensuring that the roots will be able to utilize the fertilizer. If you remember to do this twice each year, then your peach tree will grow strong.
How Long Until the Tree Produces Fruit?
Of course, one of the biggest reasons why you would plant a peach tree in your yard is that you want to enjoy peaches. Peaches are tasty and you want to be able to start enjoying them as soon as possible.
Sadly, you’re going to need to exercise patience if you planted a young tree recently. It’s going to take two to four years for the tree to start producing fruit.
When the tree is younger than this, it won’t be large enough to support full-sized fruit that can be harvested. This means that you just need to focus on helping the tree to grow during these first couple of years.
It’s important to note that there are other factors that can cause a tree to not be able to produce fruit. Colder temperatures can keep trees from being able to produce fruit.
This is why it’s crucial to ensure that you’re planting the tree in an environment where it can thrive. You might need to check whether you’re in the right USDA zone for the peach tree that you chose.
Fertilizing a tree too much can cause it to stop producing fruit, too. This can be corrected, but you will want to avoid using more fertilizer than is recommended.
Even poor pruning practices can cause fruiting issues. Do your best to learn how to prune peach trees so that you can get consistently good results.
How Long Will Peach Trees Produce Fruit?
Once your peach tree finally starts fruiting, it’s going to keep producing fruit for approximately 12 years. You should be able to enjoy an average of 66 pounds of fruit each year from your tree.
The peak yield of the peach tree will occur at the eight-year mark. After this year, the production of fruit will slowly start to decline.
This means that you’ll be able to enjoy many great years of harvesting peaches from your peach tree. So long as you care for the tree to the best of your ability, it’s going to be a good experience.
You’ll be able to look forward to eating fresh peaches each year. Many people choose to plant more peach trees so that they can keep enjoying this process even when some of the trees stop fruiting.
How Long Will the Peach Tree Live?
The peach tree should live for around 15 to 20 years if nothing goes wrong. Unless the peach tree gets a disease or experiences some type of cold shock, it’s going to survive for quite some time.
Even so, this is a short lifespan when compared to many other fruit trees. When you start reaching the end of the tree’s lifespan, it’s going to be appropriate to start thinking about planting new trees.
If you’d like to avoid interruption in your ability to harvest peaches yearly, then you should plant new peach trees before the original tree stops fruiting. This gives the new peach trees the two to four years that they need to grow strong enough to start producing fruit.
Final Thoughts
Peach trees will usually grow 18 inches per year when you’re caring for them really well. This assumes that you’re fertilizing the tree twice per year and that you planted it in the right USDA zone.
A standard peach tree might grow to be 20 feet tall. Semi-dwarf and dwarf varieties will be quite a bit shorter than that.
It takes a young peach tree two to four years to start producing peaches that can be harvested. This is because the young tree isn’t strong enough to hold the fruit yet.
You just need to encourage growth and keep caring for the tree. So long as you’re doing your best, it’s going to be possible to harvest peaches before too long.
The peach tree will only live between 15 and 20 years. This is still a fairly long time, but it isn’t as long as many other fruit trees.
Hopefully, you feel more knowledgeable about peach trees now. Enjoy your peaches and the overall beauty of the tree.
Ben has a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering. When not constructing or remodeling X-Ray Rooms, Cardiovascular Labs, and Pharmacies, you can find him at home with wife and two daughters. Outside of family, He loves grilling and barbequing on his Big Green Egg and Blackstone Griddle, as well as working on projects around the house.
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