I have a similar problem and I fully intend to remove the side I need to remove.
The worst that can happen is the possibility of losing some, most or all fruit
for a season. A risk I'm going to take because the tree is going in a direction
I am not happy with. The entire center of my peach tree is open. When bare, it
does look like an upside down umbrella scaffold. However, the limbs are very
large now and this 3 year old tree is now 12 feet tall and 18 feet wide, and
bore 5 bushels of peaches, not counting all the hundreds which fell to the
ground and were eaten by myriad critters.

Victoria


On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 13:53:19 -0400, "EPPack"
opined:

My 3-4 yo 6-7' Elberta peach sustained fairly significant deer damage the
first few years after planting. They wound up virtually denuding one side of
the tree but the other side is fine. The problem is that it's now very
"side-heavy" and I'm afraid that sooner or later it could topple in a bad
storm. Add to this that the bottom of the trunk leans towards the heavy
side, and you can see disaster in the future

Is it feasible to heavily prune that one side (at the proper time of course)
in hopes that this might stimulate growth on the bare side to eventually
balance it more than it is? Or is it doomed to eventually fall over and I
should just replace it?

TIA






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Fruit trees occasionally need some staking to keep them more erect. This is
particularly true of dwarf varieties, which do not have the strong root
structures of
the full size trees. I have also been proping up the heavily fruited branches
of my
Elberta, to keep the branches from breaking. I would only cut back a tree if it
is
impinging on a neighboring tree or some other valued object. To straighten a
tree,
you will need a very strong support driven at an angle away from the tree and
into
a spot near the drip line. I have used large metal fence posts available at
your home
building centers. My Elberta is not leaning, but my Moorpark Apricot, Stanley
Plum,
and a few apple trees have required some straightening.

Sherwin Dubren

EPPack wrote:

My 3-4 yo 6-7' Elberta peach sustained fairly significant deer damage the
first few years after planting. They wound up virtually denuding one side of
the tree but the other side is fine. The problem is that it's now very
"side-heavy" and I'm afraid that sooner or later it could topple in a bad
storm. Add to this that the bottom of the trunk leans towards the heavy
side, and you can see disaster in the future

Is it feasible to heavily prune that one side (at the proper time of course)
in hopes that this might stimulate growth on the bare side to eventually
balance it more than it is? Or is it doomed to eventually fall over and I
should just replace it?

TIA
--
Elaine Pack, Web Analyst
Charlottesville, VA
IamarealpersonATpackwebs.net