Tutorial with instructions, pictures and video

Pome fruit and stone fruit - cut types and dates

For the perfect cut Pome fruit trees has an appointment in Late winter enforced. So in February there is a lot going on in the crowns of apples, pear and quince, when gardeners are drawn to the worn and future Fruitwood dedicate. Well-trained pomaceous fruits can cope with a cut every 2 to 5 years. Stone fruit responds better to you Summer cut, optionally in connection with the harvest or after the leaves have fallen in autumn. No rule without exception also applies to the Fruit tree pruning, like cherry, prove it. Important Types of cuts and recommended dates are summarized in the following table:

If a fruit tree pruning goes far beyond care and maintenance, it has Federal Nature Conservation Act when it comes to choosing a date. To protect our massively endangered bird world, radical prunings are made prohibited from 1. March to 30th September. Restrained pruning measures may be carried out during the grace period, provided there are no bird nests in the branches.

Cut pome fruit in February

The main task of conservation pruning is to promote fertility and fruit quality. A light-flooded crown is just as important as young side shoots with oblique-horizontal alignment. The best apples, pears and quinces are harvested from sun-drenched fruit branches that are no more than half as thick as the main shoot. As the figure below illustrates, all wood that affects scaffolding shoots and fruitwood must now give way. How to cut properly:

• Remove all shoots that compete with the central shoot and the leading branches
• Tear off or cut off vertical shoots on the tops of the branches (water shoots)
• Cut out dead, weak, damaged branches that point towards the inside of the crown
• Too long, heavily branched scaffold shoots cut back to an outward-facing bud

In the last step you dedicate yourself to the most precious treasure of a fruit tree crown, the fruit wood. The sweet burden of years gone by has left its mark. Exhausted fruit shoots are easy to recognize by the low hanging growth. Select a vital side shoot behind the apex to cut off the worn, overaged wood at this point. The proven Cutting technique serves as a local rejuvenation and is used in gardening circles as a Derivative cut designated.

You have done everything right if your pome fruit tree is covered with a clear crown presents. Ideally, you can, according to the established gardening rule, “cut through a Apple tree throw a hat and catch it again ”. Wisdom need not be taken literally, although it does contain a true core. An airy crown results in minimal susceptibility to fungal infections and allows larger, juicier fruits to ripen.

After 2 to 5 years, the fruit wood in pome fruit has worn out. With a comprehensive conservation pruning, you clear the way for young fruit shoots. Dead wood, water shoots and unsuitable branches are removed. Removed, deeply drooping fruit wood is rejuvenated by being diverted to a side shoot further inside.

Cutting stone fruits in summer

Stone fruit is traditionally cut in summer because the wood is more susceptible to disease and rot. If a fruit tree is fully in the sap, it can close cut wounds faster and fight off pathogenic germs better. Plums, Plums and sour cherries can be blended at the same time as the harvest or after the leaves have fallen in autumn. Although the cut does not differ significantly from pome fruit, the following aspects must be taken into account when cutting stone fruit:

• When pruning in summer, shoots with round-shaped flower buds not blend
• Drooping, old fruit wood derive on a two-year side shoot garnished with flower buds
• Cut back wood that is too thick (almost as thick as the guide branch) to 10 to 20 cm long cones
• Shorten unfavorable, dead branches to short stubs 5 cm
• This year's unbranched long shoots with more than 20 cm in length Shorten by a third

On some of the most popular sour cherries, it is primarily the annual shoots that bloom and fruit. Morello cherries and the resulting varieties should for this reason each year get cut. The aim of the pruning is that there are no more than three annual shoots with a length of 20 to 30 centimeters for each 10 centimeter guide branch length. After harvesting, cut back severely removed branches to two buds or an inner side shoot. In the same year, fresh fruitwood shoots sprout from it, which bloom in the next spring and then bear fruit.

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Note the juice balance

One of the most important premises in pruning fruit trees is to observe the Juice scales. The classic fruit tree crown is pyramidal in shape with a continuous, dominant central shoot and three to four lateral leading branches. Uniform growth is only ensured if the tips of the leading branches are at the same height. The central drive protrudes over its main branches by 15 to 20 centimeters, so that an imaginary angle of 90 ° to 120 ° is formed. The illustration below uses the example of training on the apple tree to show how the crown framework should ideally be built up and maintained.

Raise a fruit tree with a pyramidal crown from a central shoot and three to four leading branches. Together the frame forms an angle of 90 ° to 120 °. The leading branches are in juice scales.

Seldom cut sweet cherries

When the fruit wood on pomaceous or sour cherries has long been exhausted, the sweet cherry still shines with lavish blossoms and juicy fruits. At the Cherry tree a cut is therefore a rarity. However, you should not completely delete the cut care. At intervals of four to five years, sweet cherries benefit from thinning out dead wood and rejuvenating fruit wood. How to do it right:

• The best time to cut is in summer, immediately after the harvest
• Thinning out unfavorably growing, dead and bare shoots
• Drooping branches with a diameter of more than 5 cm lead to a healthy side shoot
• Remove thick, old branches on cones 10 to 20 cm in length

The most precious good of a sweet cherry are Short shoots, richly garnished with thick Flower buds. In gardening language, this becomes productive Fruitwood as Bouquet and is spared from the scissors. Otherwise nothing speaks against a courageous cut in the cherry tree crown. A knowledgeable conservation cut leaves a crown that has been swept almost empty. There is nothing to worry about. On the contrary, the pruning effort is rewarded with an abundantly blooming and richly bearing sweet cherry in the following years, until the next time a maintenance pruning is on the maintenance program.

Digression

Steep shoots do not bear fruit

frequently asked Questions

Why should fruit trees be pruned? Can't I just let apple, pear or cherry grow?

The most important goal of pruning on fruit trees is to promote fruit wood. It is important to keep those shoots vital and sun-drenched that bear flowers and fruits. The majority of fruit trees plant the flower systems in the previous year. The best fruit wood on peaches or sour cherries is on annual branches. Apple and pear also bear fruit on two and three-year-old shoots. Without a regular pruning, a fruit tree crown is overaged after four to five years at the latest and no longer has any noteworthy fruit curtains.

I am currently creating a near-natural garden with three to four fruit trees. I want to take care of these trees in harmony with nature and cut them as little as possible. How do you do that without having to forego a rich harvest?

Fruit trees develop a picturesque and natural habit if they are not pruned very much in the first few years. Smaller interventions do not disturb the growth, but have a beneficial effect on a light-flooded crown shape with numerous flowers and fruits. A planting and training pruning are entirely in harmony with nature. In later years, every cut on fruit trees is a balancing act between optimizing the harvest and damaging the wood. If you are planning the location for a fruit tree, it should be generously dimensioned so that the crown can develop freely without the need for pruning measures for a reduction in size. Thanks to this foresight, the maintenance of the incision is reduced to an occasional one Fruit woodcut on the apple or cherry tree every three to five years.

Are all fruit trees self-fertile?

Most types of fruit are not self-fertile. They only bear juicy fruit when another variety contributes its genetic information in the form of pollen. Modern breeds are sometimes declared as self-fertile, which, however, causes disappointment among gardeners about a meager harvest yield. For the planting of fruit trees, it has been proven in gardening practice to locate at least two varieties in close proximity that fertilize each other.

Is it true that you shouldn't cut fruit trees in frosty weather?

It has turned out to be a misconception that pruning in frost causes damage to fruit trees. Thanks to intensive field tests by experienced experts, we now know that pruning down to -5 degrees Celsius is easily possible. Only when the thermometer drops lower should you approach a cut with caution. There is a great danger that shoots will tear or break off because the cold wood is brittle.

What types of saws and scissors are recommended for cutting fruit trees?

Two types of saw are perfectly suited for cutting trees: handy folding saws and flexible hacksaws with adjustable saw blades. Folding saws, also known as Japanese saws, master cutting hard-to-reach branches by pulling them. Hacksaws score with precise cutting guidance Astringbecause the saw blade can be adjusted individually. Two types of scissors are also vying for the gardener's favor. Bypass scissors work with two sharp blades that run past each other. Anvil scissors work with a straight, sharp edge that is pressed onto a blunt counterpart. The bypass mechanism is impressive for cutting living wood. The anvil mechanism has proven itself for cutting hard, dry branches.

The 3 most common mistakes

If a fruit tree refuses the longed-for blossoms and juicy fruits, the gardener has made a mistake in cutting. So that you can arm yourself against typical damage to fruit trees, the following table lists three cardinal errors in the name and gives tips for prevention:

A common gaffe is gardening even before the first cut is made. We are talking about unclean blades and saw blades. Statistical surveys have shown that the most common cause of disease and pests on fruit trees can be traced back to contaminated cutting tools. Pathogenic agents use the blades as a means of transport directly into the pathways of the trimmed shoots. Please do not neglect to clean and meticulously disinfect the tool before each cutting.

Tips

The perfect pruning of fruit trees will come to nothing if there is a lack of hard-working insects as pollinators. To bees Bumblebees, Hoverflies and others Beneficial insects To attract people, the garden should be designed to be inviting. Early flowering shrubs, like that Cornelian cherry, provide full food. Insect hotels and flower pots filled with wood wool invite you to linger and take care of the brood. Leave rotten tree trunks and piles of leaves lying around as coveted retreats. Of course, poisonous pesticides and artificial fertilizers are frowned upon in the insect-friendly garden.