Table of contents
- Why prune fruit trees?
- When to cut fruit trees
- types of cuts
- cutting techniques
- The right tool
- Benefits & Tips
Why should fruit trees be pruned? On the one hand it is used for tree health and yield behavior, on the other hand for the upbringing, maintenance and rejuvenation of the tree. Fruit trees are mainly pruned in the months of January to March, the so-called winter pruning. But a cut is also possible in the summer, but this is more of a supplementary and corrective cut. With both cuts, damaged tree parts, cancerous growths and fungus-infested areas are also removed at the same time. A good fruit tree pruning increases the yield. The tool is also important. For a precise cut, you should use one that cuts reliably and accurately.
Why prune fruit trees?
With the right pruning, the fruit tree gets a stable branch structure that can carry large harvest quantities. The crown of the tree is also shaped and corrected if necessary. Cutting out the branches makes them lighter and dries faster after rain, which can prevent pests and fungal infections such as mildew, scab and tree canker. But light and air also penetrate into the interior of the crown and thus promote the formation of flowers and fruit.
Pruning fruit trees has other advantages. Regular pruning keeps the tree young and strong. The winter cut also stimulates new shoots. Special crown cuts are made as a privacy screen or for shading, and in the commercial sector, fruit tree pruning is also used for the production of scions. Of course, the cut must be tailored to the growth behavior of the fruit species and the development phase of the tree. The right cut, combined with fertilization, soil care and possibly plant protection guarantees a rich harvest.
When to cut fruit trees
Winter pruning is the main cut for almost all fruit trees. The branches are thinned out and the shape cut or tree construction done. Depending on the region, the months of January to March are ideal for pruning fruit trees in winter. In any case, the cut should be carried out on frost-free days. The summer pruning, on the other hand, can supplement or correct the winter pruning and should be carried out on pome fruit by the end of July or the beginning of August at the latest. Above all, shoots in the head area or annual shoots that grow straight up, so-called water shoots, are removed. Diseased branches can also be cut out. However, the summer pruning through the foliage is not easy for some hobby gardeners to assess. You should therefore make a thorough winter cut. The cut is slightly different for stone fruit. Here it is preferred in summer or cut after harvest. Already at the beginning of July, the still soft water shoots are cut off cleanly with garden shears. On cherries, apricots and early plums, the correct fruit tree pruning can be done after the harvest. In the case of stone fruit varieties that ripen later, on the other hand, a winter cut should be made.
types of cuts
The pruning measures depend on the fruit tree. A distinction is made between:
- plant cutting
- education cut
- maintenance cut
- taper cut
Since the fruit tree loses its root system when it is dug up in the tree nursery, the volume of the crown and roots must be adapted to each other when it is planted again. This pruning is carried out immediately after planting, it promotes growth and initiates crown training. The training pruning is carried out on all young trees. The goal is to shape the treetop. This can take up to seven years. The fruit wood is renewed and rejuvenated by the maintenance cut. It is usually carried out during the harvest season. Rejuvenation pruning is often performed on older fruit trees. The crown of the tree is cut back by about a third. This allows the crown to rejuvenate with new shoots.
cutting techniques
- deriving, while a targeted fruit tree pruning directs the growth in the desired direction
- cut away, the complete removal of shoots and branches without residual stubs
- cutting, one-year-old shoots are cut, so they branch better and become stronger. This pruning is mainly used in the training of young trees.
The right tool
Good tools such as a saw and pruning shears are required to be able to cut the wood precisely and without injuring the branches. In the trade there are even extra for the fruit tree pruning. But you should definitely pay attention to quality and reliability.
Benefits & Tips
By cutting back you not only contribute to the optimal health of the tree, but also create a robust branch structure for a correspondingly high harvest yield. A crown that is correspondingly light after pruning has numerous advantages: firstly, it allows sunlight to reach the fruit better and contribute to a better development and secondly, the heat that is generated provides a kind of protection against fungal infections guaranteed.
Mildew and co. don't stand a chance anymore. Moreover, experts even say that pruning fruit trees helps the tree stay young and fit, even if it is already a few years old.
Incidentally, the cut also has advantages for you: the shade in the garden can be positioned with a clever cut where you can use it and where not. Pruning fruit trees in the garden also has a visual effect.
Depending on the type of tree, a distinction is made between winter pruning and summer pruning when pruning fruit trees. The latter in turn varies with pome fruit, soft fruit, stone fruit and walnuts. It is therefore particularly important that you inform yourself accordingly in advance.
The summer cut is usually the classic and most used cut. This involves cutting back the branches in the area of the tree crown so that the tree becomes a little lighter again. In addition, it is a cut in which the cuts that may have been planned differently during the winter cut and their developments can be corrected if necessary.
Sometimes, as with walnuts, for example, just one fruit tree pruning per year is enough. No matter what kind of fruit tree, in any case, the wound healing must be observed accordingly, which means that only then cut back may be used when the frost has subsided, otherwise the wounds will no longer be able to recover properly from this intervention.
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