Preparing a peach tree for winter: how to properly cover and insulate it

The question of how to protect peach trees for the winter is a pressing concern for amateur gardeners. Frost and spring cold snaps damage the generative buds and vegetative parts of the plant. This negatively impacts yield and lifespan. To ensure regular fruiting in temperate climates, even winter-hardy varieties need to be protected from winter frosts.

Do peaches need to be insulated for the winter?

The crop is grown on an industrial scale in Crimea and the Krasnodar region. The sea there moderates winter temperatures. Winter-hardy varieties are found in dachas in the central part of Russia. Michurin was involved in breeding peaches for the European part of Russia, and his students continued the work.

Gardeners claim that if you insulate a peach tree for the winter, The harvest can be grown in Siberia. There are positive results in Khakassia, Omsk Oblast, and Altai. Even frost-resistant peach varieties have limited winter hardiness, and it's not just low temperatures that the trees fear.

Prolonged thaws that occur at the end of the year and early spring are no less dangerous. During prolonged warming, buds awaken. A large percentage freeze when the next cold wave arrives. A swollen peach bud dies at -8°C.

Properly protected trees wake up later, so they're not affected by temporary warm spells. Peach tree care continues in winter. A 1-1.5 m diameter circle around the trunk is filled with snow. During a thaw, this is compacted, sprinkled with sawdust or straw, and covered with a piece of plastic film.

At the beginning of April, the shelter is removed; it has fulfilled its function:

• the melting of snow has slowed down;
• delayed flowering;
• protected the flowering peach tree from spring frosts;
• saved the harvest.

Trees that aren't protected for the winter are susceptible to gum flow. During severe frosts, cracks form in branches and trunks, and gum leaks out. Peach bark suffers from drafts and frequent thaws in late winter.

How to protect a peach from freezing

Peach trees are prepared for winter in spring, summer, and fall. To grow a harvest in cold climates, covering the tree in the fall is not enough. It's important to increase the stone fruit's winter hardiness. To do this, care for the tree (bush) using standard agricultural practices:

• organize balanced feeding in spring and summer;
• carry out sanitary pruning in spring;
• water;
• Don't forget about preventative treatments of the crown against pests and diseases.

Even in Ukraine, peach trees require care in the fall. In unusually cold years, flower buds and crowns above the snow line freeze. At best, the harvest suffers; at worst, the tree dies. Before insulating a peach tree for the winter, a whole series of measures are taken.

What material should I choose for insulation?

The future peach harvest depends on how the tree survives the winter. It's especially important to properly insulate young seedlings planted in the spring. According to experts and amateur gardeners, the best covering materials for the above-ground parts of peach trees are:

• agrofibre;
• paper;
• corn stalks;
• spruce branches;
• polypropylene fabric;
• sackcloth.

The easiest way to insulate a peach tree's crown is with agrotextile. The higher the density of the geotextile, the greater the protection. The material is not cheap, but it lasts for many years. You can watch the video to see how to properly insulate the crown. Dry straw manure, sawdust, peat, dried leaves, spruce branches, and straw are used to cover the lower part of the trunk and roots.

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Insulation for roots

The root zone is covered after the leaves have fallen and the ground has frozen slightly. Two weeks before the onset of cold weather, preparatory measures are carried out. They include watering, pouring 5-7 buckets of water under each tree, feeding with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers, and whitewashing the trunks.

To whitewash the trunk and skeletal branches, mix 2 kg of slaked lime, 30 g of grated laundry soap, and 250 g of copper sulfate in a bucket of water. Before applying the whitewash, clean the trunk and remove any dead bark.

After cleaning, the wounds are washed with a 2% copper sulfate solution and sealed with garden pitch. Once all preparatory work is completed, begin insulating the peach tree's root system for the winter:

• cover the trunk circle and the lower part of the trunk;
• for better wintering, the trunk is hilled to a height of 20-30 cm, covered with dry leaves, shavings, and spruce branches;
• The tree trunk circle is mulched with a layer (25 cm) of humus, dry grass, and peat.

Barrel protection

After peach tree Once the leaves have completely fallen, the crown is sprayed with a urea solution. Add 1 kg to 10 liters of water. Then, the trunk is covered for the winter using various methods:

Gardeners in the Far East fill large cardboard boxes with dry leaves, sawdust, and turf in the fall. In the winter, they place them under tree trunks; the cardboard falls apart in the spring, and the contents are used as mulch. Snow is held back in the garden with wooden latticework, and the trunks are then hilled up with it.

To prepare the tree for the cold weather, in Ukraine, a frame of beams is built around the peach tree trunk, with corn stalks inserted into it. In Stavropol, peach trees are grown as bushes consisting of 3-5 trunks. Half of these trunks bear fruit during the current season, while the others set buds for next year's harvest. In the fall, the fruiting shoots are cut back, and the remaining shoots are bent to the ground and covered with mulch.

Crown cover

Before the onset of frost, the crown is prepared for winter. Urea is sprayed against fungal infections, and fruit-bearing branches are partially pruned. In Siberia, young trees are bent to the ground. To do this, the shoots are gathered into a bundle, wrapped in soft rope, and the tied tree is bent and tied to a stake.

While temperatures are above freezing, don't cover the peaches with covering material, as this can cause bud rot. When frost sets in (-10°C), apply a rodent repellent to the center of the crown and cover with dry leaves and wood shavings. Apply a 25 cm thick covering layer.

In the central zone, the crown is tied with ropes for the winter. Branches are protected from frost in various ways:

• wrap it with lutrasil or spunbond, secure the covering material with twine in several places, and try to cover all the shoots;
• covered with reed mats;
• wrap it in burlap, old wallpaper;
• A frame is constructed from beams, covered with film or agrofibre, and when frost sets in, leaves and straw are poured inside.

At the end of winter, thaws occur, and trees are protected from the bright sun with slate or wooden shields, placed on the south side.

What happens if you don't cover a peach tree for the winter?

Experience shows that even the most winter-hardy peach varieties' flower buds die if frosts drop below -26°C. In regions where such frosts occur 2-3 times a year, the crop can only be grown with insulation. If peach trees aren't protected for the winter, problems are inevitable:

• you can lose the harvest because most of the flower buds will freeze;
• due to frequent temperature changes at the end of winter and beginning of spring, part of the bark will die off;
• Frozen trees have a weakened immune system, they get sick all summer, and may not survive the next winter.

Without shelter, severe frosts will cause the roots to freeze, which will eventually kill the tree. In this case, it will be impossible to form a bush from the shoots.

The difficulty of overwintering doesn't faze gardeners. Peaches are successfully grown as a cover crop in Siberia, the Far East, and the Moscow region. Winter-hardy Canadian and American varieties such as Fury, Harko, Harbinger, and Harnas are suitable for northern regions. Popular varieties in the central part of the country include Kremlevskiy Krupnoplodny, Zolotaya Moskva, Zakatny, and Smolenskiy.