FRUIT harvests can be greatly enhanced by a little judicial pruning each year – and now is a good time to be looking at it. Pictured are young pears growing from spurs on the main branches.
MANY have home orchards, whether it’s just a couple of trees through to those with every fruit tree species that’s out there.
And they do need looking after by way of pruning every year.
Pruning is done when the last of the fruit has dropped – and best when the leaves have fallen or are beginning to fall.
For some, like stonefruit, leaving it till midwinter leaves the tree open to fungal diseases, so earlier can be better.
Prune on a dry day, to limit the spread of fungal spores and diseases.
Use sharp secateurs to make clean cuts on an angle, above a bud or branch. Prune lightly rather than excessively.
When trimming or reducing the canopy, make cuts just above an outward facing bud.
The main aim of pruning is to encourage renewal of fruiting wood for regular crops of quality fruit, to let light into the tree, to remove diseased parts and to control a tree’s height.
Clean and sharp secateurs are necessary and if your tree has some thicker branches, a pair of loppers or a saw could be a necessity.
A bit like roses, aim to cut just above each growth bud and when removing dead or diseased wood, always cut through the healthy tissue below the diseased section.
Painting large cuts with a sealing compound to protect your tree against disease is a good idea.
For many, lopping the top leader off when the trees reach about eight feet in height helps to keep it manageable for harvesting and for wider canopy growth. However, for full grown trees, this isn’t possible.
Different types of fruit trees do have different requirements.
- Apple trees – Usually the only pruning necessary is the removal of twiggy growth where there is a lot of it, as the tree produces fruit on spurs, short stubby growths attached to main branches. They continue producing on the same spurs for a few years. Pears and cherry fruit also grow on spurs and require similar treatment.
- Plum trees – Plum trees produce fruit on the same spurs for several years and generally, they don’t need much pruning once the desired shape has been established while the tree is young. Excessive pruning can over stimulate tree growth at the expense of fruit. Any vertical branching should be removed.
- Peach and nectarine trees – These trees flower on new wood made the previous summer, so prune hard to encourage new growth. Otherwise, fruit will be produced further and further out on the branches each year.
Don’t remove too many flower buds or the current season’s crop will suffer. Flower buds are plump while growth buds are flatter.
