This is a traditional open center peach tree, which many porches in the southeast are trained to. We call it an open center or a vase system. All the branches are going out at approximately a 45-degree angle with the center of the tree open. An open center tree is primarily used to accommodate the high vigor that peach trees can have and to get rid of some of the shading issues with that excessive growth. If we look at an open center tree, we start at the base. This one started out with three primarily scaffold branches. We come up approximately 18 inches to 2 foot and then these primary scaffold branches and then we come up another 2 to 3 foot and they branch again. Off of these main scaffolds, we take the fine fruiting wood. The Redwood is what we're after. The Redwood is about the size of a pencil and is going to be the most productive for the peach tree. This is approximately a seven-year-old peach tree. It's trained to the open center and has been pruned annually from the day it was planted. We're going to prune it again today so we can maximize fruit production in the years to come. The first thing we will do on a tree like this is we would get rid of the upright growth in the center of the tree. The open center tree, the center has to be open as the name implies or a vase. So, the first thing we'll do is get rid of this upright growth. Any growth growing up straight upright or into the center of the tree will be removed. We can also look at the framework of the tree with our major scaffold branches coming up because this one is...
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