Fruit Tree Pruning: The Essentials


Every person who ever owned an orchard knows how hard it is to maintain things under control. Fruits are super sensitive, and by doing a single thing at the wrong time can lead to disaster, meaning the fruits produced that year will be significantly lesser than the previous year. Everything hast to be done according to the plan, and every plan needs thorough and detailed thinking. Among the complicated activities is pruning. Choosing the right time to do it means all the difference in the world for fruit production, so read this guide carefully and read about the proper ways to perform it.

Initial considerations

Before you start, you should know what pruning is. It is a series of activities all aiming towards establishing wanted branch development, improving branch direction and growth. Pruning is performed to cut down the unwanted parts and to prevent weak branches from growing that might influence fruit production and lead to tree splits. Also, it includes cutting of smaller limbs, small and young buds, shoots and leaves. Everything needed to keep the tree healthy.  The 14 foot Fiskars is a big hit on Amazon, but did it pass the review?

Timing is everything

Knowing when to perform pruning will save you a lot of time, and preserve your trees. Even though some people do it in the late summer days, it has been proven that the best pruning and the most successful one is during winter. Especially in the late winter, when there are no leaves left on the trees, making them easier to prune and giving full visibility to the naked branches. No leaves mean that you can aim with high precision and avoid injuring the tree. Also, make sure you prune he trees that bloomed the last first, and the ones that bloomed first the last.

Preparing the work

Pruning is not that simple. Before you start cutting randomly, think twice for it might kill or injury the tree irrecoverably. The process of pruning is all about doing the three D’s: damaged, dead or diseased parts of the tree. These parts have to go, so you are free to cut them down carefully, avoiding additional injuries to the tree. If you have a large orchard with plenty of tall trees, you should consider using a boom lift. Remember that all of the damaged, dead or diseased branches have to go in order for the tree to grow properly and the fruits to blossom next season.

Heading and thinning

As with every other technique, pruning has two ways of doing it and both are used for different situations. These are heading and thinning. Thinning is done when the tree’s branches are thick and there is not enough air or sunlight reaching the inner tree.  So, in order for all the parts of the tree to have the same amount of air and sunlight, thinning is performed by cutting down excessive leaves and branches. Heading is like cutting your tree’s hair, and it’s performed at the top of the tree, cutting all the short and long branches for about 30 percent of their length. This is done to ensure the branches grow thick and strong instead, to be able to withstand fruit load. Once heading and thinning are done, all the trees are pretty much ready for the next fruitful season.

Everything is in proper timing and coordination, and if done in a proper manner, pruning will preserve your trees and give you a lot of tasty and good looking fruits. Know that if you do something wrong or in the bad time, the season can end before it even began!

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