These are peach trees and they have not had a crop to speak of because of the past two very wet springs. So we have to manage them very carefully. With no fruit to mature all the energy can go into branch productions. We have to maintain a balanced tree with just enough growth to produce next years fruit buds. Too many buds and we have to thin heavily. The tree can get a shock from too much fruit and them take a break the next year. This is called biennial fruiting. To try to rein in the trees we have not added any compost, nor have we removed the weeds. The irrigation has been kept at a minimum, all to slow growth.
Lets all hope for a nice dry spring next year. If you have any connections please put a good word in for us.