UF Sun Peach Blooms in January

The UF Sun Peach will bloom in January sown here in South Florida. At least, that's what mine is doing without any help from me.

I've had this young tree since last April, so this is the first January I've seen it through. I had been waiting until January to prune it in accordance with this good IFAS article. So, yesterday, as soon as I noticed these little blooms, I ran out to prune it.

I performed "heading-back pruning cuts". I took 6-12 inches off the tips of the branches. a few branches were very weak and had no buds, so I completely removed them. I always snipped about a quarter inch above a bud, just like I do with the nodes on my rose bushes. I have a cold, so I didn't get the chance to smell the blooms. I have a feeling the blooms will cover the tree in the next few weeks.

The UF Sun Peach, by the way, began dropping leaves back in Sep-Oct. By mid-December, it had just the last few ramaining dead leaves hanging from the tips of the branches. It looked dreadful. It's growth rate has been unbelievable. In April when I planted it, the tree was slightly larger than me. Now, 9 months later, it's 3 times larger than me. It's on a drip irrigation system that feeds it water only (no fertilizer) twice daily for 3 minutes.