Echoing what others have said about trees being over-encumbered with fruit: When I picked oranges and mandarins on a citrus farm if there was a bumper crop that year it wasn’t uncommon to find branches with so much fruit that they were dragging down to the floor (and ping up once picked!) Or worst case the branch has snapped but you hope the fruit is still fresh to pick
It depends, some plants can store excess energy as humans store fat (tubers, bulbs, rhyzomes). If a plant can do that, they will (potato plants will make more and bigger potatoes, plants, like onions and liliums, who have bulbs will make their bulbs bigger). Plants which don’t have those organs will do different things. Take for example, trees: most trees will choose to make and grow more stem and leaves instead of flowers (which causes problems), some plants, for example, can store excess nutrients on themselves (which is a grave problem in things that we eat) without any noticeable changes in size. This is called “luxury consumption” and it’s a problem. This is overly simplified because it’s eli5 but you can ask if you want clarifications on any item.
Source: I’m an agronomer and my life is plants and plants accesories.
I bought my house four years ago, and we watered a half cut down little tree in my backyard, not knowing it was a peach tree. Winter, and spring passed, that first summer, it produced maybe 30/40ish peaches. A buddy of mine gave me advice and said “Put a piece of ribbon tape on every little branch shoot that doesn’t produce peaches. When winter hits and the nutrients go back in the ground, slice those branches off.”
Sounded easy peasey, so I did it. Next year, I had over 100 peaches. Rinse and repeat for several more years.
Last summer, I produced so many peaches half of my tree snapped in half. I plan on adding supports to my wild branches this year so it doesn’t happen again… I love peaches!
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