Introduction: The research purpose is the management of the peach–Myzus persicae system, by integration of chemical, biological and cultural pest control methods. We used a modeling approach to address it. To assist model development, we first aim to experimentally characterize peach–aphid interactions driven by winter pruning and nitrogen (N) fertilization, proposed as potential cultural control methods. Methods: We artificially infested peach trees with aphids and applied various levels of pruning intensity (from 0 to 80%) and N treatments (from shortage to overdose). Aphid dynamics, foliar growth, fruit yield and quality were monitored. Results: Aphid infestation of peach trees increased with increasing pruning intensity because of an exponential increase of the proportion of growing shoots at the expense of short shoots, aphids having developed better on growing shoots. According to the N gradient, plant vigor increased then leveled off while aphid abundance increased then decreased. Plant vigor partially explained aphid performance that exhibited a significant nonlinear response to leaf N content. Preliminary analyses of foliar chemistry (free amino-acids, phenolic and cyanogenic compounds) gave elements to explain this response at N shortage but not at N overdose. Aphids induced premature defoliation on growing shoots and reduced their growth. Following infestation, trees had compensatory growth. Aphids did not significantly reduce fruit mass and refractometric index. Conclusions: Winter pruning and N fertilization can be used to control aphids; application in production orchards is discussed. We illustrate the potential of a simulation model, incorporating these results, to investigate alternative strategies for crop-pest management.