Pruning fruit trees – the basics
Pruning fruit trees is essential for two main reasons: to create a strong structure and to allow for plenty of light to reach all the fruit.
A well-pruned tree is easier to maintain and harvest and can look great in a garden. But the most important factor is making sure the tree is open to the light. Have you ever noticed that the tastiest fruit is always at the top of the tree? That’s because it’s getting the most light. When you’re pruning, it’s important to keep in mind that you want to create a tree that’s open to the light and easy to care for and harvest.
You’ll need three tools to prune: a hand pruner, long-handled lopping shears, and a pruning saw. Bypass or anvil-type pruners work best for close pruning. You can also use accessories like spreaders and weights to bend branches into a more horizontal position so they’ll bear fruit earlier.
When pruning, you can make two types of cuts: thinning and heading. Thinning involves removing an entire shoot, branch, or limb back to where it originated. This will open up light channels throughout the tree. Heading is when you remove part of the shoot, branch, or limb, usually up to 1/3 to 1/2 of its length. This encourages the growth of side branches from the part that remains. Heading should be used mainly on young trees to establish branches.
The main training systems used for pruning fruit trees are the Open Center, Central Leader, and Trellis. In our area, you might also see the Umbrella method. Open Center or Vase type pruning is best for stone fruits like peach, nectarine, apricot, cherry, and plum. When selecting future scaffold limbs, make sure there’s enough clearance for mowers and other equipment.
Most pruning is done in the dormant season (November 15–April 15). When looking at a shoot or branch, try to imagine it with leaves in the summer and eliminate shoots that will be too closely spaced. The key is to remember: When in doubt, thin it out! Make most of your cuts thinning cuts.
Pruning fruit trees is an important part of keeping them healthy and productive. With the right tools and techniques, you can create a tree that’s open to the light, and easy to maintain and harvest.
As the tree matures, select a second scaffold, 24″–30″ above the main scaffold, and train it similarly, only training to a flatter angle (about 60 degrees from the vertical). Think of it as a living sculpture, with many light channels flowing throughout its structure, which will reward your efforts with a bounty of tasty, good quality fruit. To get the perfect shape, a top scaffold should be developed in the third or fourth season – a triangular shape wide at the bottom and narrowing at the top. Pruning is both a science and an art; you need to be aware of how light affects growth and how the tree’s structure develops over time, as well as having an eye for a pleasing balance between growth and production. In the top of the tree, thin out the most vigorous shoots, and keep those that are not so vigorous. Never allow the upper scaffolds to overgrow and shade the lower ones and prune out large diameter upright-growing branches. Try to maintain about 60% of the tree’s total volume in the lower scaffold area to provide good access to light throughout the tree and make for easy care and picking.
Trellis training is similar to the central leader, only in a more 2-dimensional framework. Choosing a tree on the right dwarf rootstock is important so that the tree doesn’t outgrow its space. The classic espalier is a more painstaking variation, but one that will reward the home gardener’s artistic efforts. A simplified trellis system is increasingly used by commercial orchards, particularly apple growers, to maximize fruit production per unit area, and to provide better exposure to sunlight for high fruit colour and quality. The best alignment for a trellis is north-south so that both sides get good exposure to the sun. In setting up the trellis, the first wire is usually about 30″, and the top wire usually at 6 or 7 feet, but fruit trees are quite adaptable and can be trained to a number of different designs. The key element to emphasize with all of them is that the less actual pruning you do, the better. The wires allow for branches to be bent down and tied in position, either horizontally as in the classic espalier, or at a 45-degree angle from the trunk. Very little cutting should be done, and then only to remove shoots and branches that are growing in the wrong direction (at right angles to the trellis) or are too crowded. In young trees, the leader should be headed to produce side branching at each level, until the main trunk reaches its desired height. After that, growth should be controlled by bending the branches to encourage early fruiting, and thinning out any shoots that are too vigorous.
Umbrella trees are usually older trees (some up to nearly 100 years old), originally planted in yards and homesteads when the modern size-controlling rootstocks were not yet available. They were pruned to an umbrella shape to keep trees that would normally reach 40 feet down to a manageable height. An established umbrella tree has as its basic framework one set of main scaffold limbs that are horizontal and are also the apex of the tree. Fruit-bearing branches grow outward and downward from these main limbs, and clumps of water sprouts shoot upward. Keeping these water sprouts thinned out is the key to maintaining a productive umbrella tree. About 80% of the water sprouts that emerge each year should be thinned out. The largest and most upright should be removed, leaving the smaller ones well-spaced, much as you would thin a row of corn. These remaining sprouts can be positioned by bending and tying them to encourage more fruit buds. Don’t head these water sprouts, as it only stimulates more shoot growth and reduces fruiting. In the rest of the tree, thin out weak branches, particularly those that are shaded by an overhanging branch. Areas of the tree that get little or no access to light will weaken and die, so try to make sure that all fruiting areas of the tree are pruned to let light in. When a tree has been left unpruned for many years, it is sometimes best to take 2–3 years to get it back in shape, rather than try to do it all at once. Start by looking at the basic structure of the tree and choose two or three major branches to eliminate completely – ones that will open up central areas of the tree to light. Try to visualize what the tree will look like without those branches. The next year, look again and repeat the process. Follow up by thinning out water sprouts and maintain the tree’s new shape with regular fine-tuning of the branches that develop.
Imagine a living work of art, with its many streams of light running through its body – the reward for your hard work is a plenitude of delicious, top-notch fruit!
References
Articles
South Africa
How to prune deciduous fruit trees
How to prune fruit trees in South Africa
How To Prune Plums | DIY Food Gardening | Grow To Eat
Essential Fruit Tree Pruning Tips
How to Prune and Trim South African Plants
International
Essential Tools for Pruning Fruit Trees
How to Prune Fruit Trees in 8 Steps
Pruning Tree Fruit – The Basics – WSU Extension
How to Prune Fruit Trees: Cutting Dead Branches
Tree pruning basics – OSU Extension Service
Videos
South Africa
Citrus Pruning: 1. Pruning Principles – YouTube
International