Pruning fruit trees ???

[hazzygawa]

I have a job next week to prune various apple and plum trees. Will it affect the trees much if I do this and what will be the effect ?? Any feedback greatly received.

[RobRainford]

If they are flowering I would leave them. If they aren't then do it quick!

[agg221]

It's very different to standard arb practice - and coincidentally is the area I'm most familiar with, having grown up on an orchard.

 

You need to look at the size of them now, relative to age, to work out what stock they're grafted on, and work out whether the owners want fruit, or effect. You also treat plums very differently to apples.

 

General comments:

They should have a clear trunk, to a height. Check near ground level for the graft, and make sure that it is well clear of the soil. If there is soil up to it, it wants digging back, and if there are already roots from above the graft they need taking off. If you don't this is the difference between a Bramley controlled to 6-10ft by the rootstock, relative to one which isn't making a 50ft tree! You want a lot of light and air through to ripen the fruit so plenty of spacing out of branches and secateur/lopper work (plums can stand being a bit more dense than apples. Branches over branches should be no closer than 3ft, so most trees only want a couple of tiers max. Main things to take out are crossing/rubbing branches and anything dead or diseased. You are aiming for an open centre, so clear out the middle first and then the trick is to pick an imaginary point, at the top of the trunk and think of looking down on that, you would want all the branches to stick straight out from it, so anything that grows across (inwards) gets cut out, and anything that grows into other branches space gets cut out.

 

The other thing is about getting fruit. Trees growing vigorously don't fruit. Upright growing branches grow vigorously, so cut out anything growing upward - aim to leave branches growing at about 45deg to the horizontal/vertical ideally. If there's a lot to be done, it's better to spread it over 3yrs. Once critical thing for this is, don't cut back to leave a stub - it will grow water shoots which are useless, so either cut out completely or back to a fork. The worst thing for fruiting is the trees you sometimes see which have effectively been pollarded year on year. They never build up a network of spurs, so they never crop. Better to take them out and plant something smaller so that it can get to fruiting size.

 

Plums

Main killer is silverleaf. This is about as early in the year as you should touch them, and they shouldn't be touched after September as it doesn't get in during the growing season. Ideally, try not to take big cuts - it's better to have thinned main branches, rather than taking them out, where possible.

 

Apples

Commercial pruning runs right through to June, so no problems there, it's just easier with the leaves off. The later in the year you prune, the less vigorous the response, so now is a good time if the pruning is heavy, but bad if you want to stimulate vigour (that's best done in the autumn). Main thing to watch for is canker - if branches have canker the bark is brown and mushy and it smells. Either trim out all the bad bark (you can leave the wood) - the thing to watch is the cambium line - if it's brown it needs to go, when you get back to yellowish green it's fine. Either that or take the branch out if it's sacrificial.

 

Hope this helps - if there's anything specific, like the varieties, or some photos, happy to provide more specific detail or comment if it helps!

 

Alec

[hazzygawa]

Cheers rob. Thanks agg that was a really thorough answer. Basically I can prune but less fruit and less vigour. Piece of mind.

[Jamie M]

Agg - Excellent post!

I went on a dedicated fruit pruning day and what you've said reflects the bits I learned on the day, although more succinctly. Good stuff!

[slack ma girdle]

Plums and cherries should be pruned after they have flowered, Wimbledon fortnight is normally when i do mine.

 

On thing to remember with apple tree, is to check whether it is a tip bearer. not many variaties are, but i have inadvertantly pruned all the fruit spurs of one tree many years ago, needless to say the customer was not not happy the following couple of years when when the tree produced no fruit

Edited March 25, 2011 by slack ma girdle
Old age

[button1803]

If they are flowering I would leave them. If they aren't then do it quick!

 

agree 100%

[WoodED]

I have a job next week to prune various apple and plum trees. Will it affect the trees much if I do this and what will be the effect ?? Any feedback greatly received.

 

my collage tutors said to prune fruit trees when the fruit is on display, you will lose your crop for that year but will have a good amount of crop the following year