Fruit trees must be pruned every year, usually during the dormant period. Charlie Nardozzi of the National Gardening Association explains the principles of fruit-tree pruning. If you don't begin proper pruning early in the tree's life, the result is "alternate bearing": one year's harvest is bountiful, and the following year's is puny. Because apple trees are the most common fruit trees home gardeners choose, Charlie uses them as an example. They should be pruned in late winter, but you can prune into the spring and summer if you must. Avoid pruning in the fall: pruning stimulates new growth, and at that time the tree should be getting ready for winter. It's important to have the right tools for the job. Hand pruners are the tool you'll probably use most, so keep them sharp and handy. If you have a tree with limbs larger than 3" in diameter, you may want to use a folding saw or lopping shears. Lopping shears have long handles and give more leverage when pruning larger branches. Pole pruners -- a blade attached to a long pole -- are handy for helping you reach high branches. The first rule of pruning is to remove any dead, injured or diseased branches. Near the base of all branches is an area of wrinkled wood called the branch collar. This portion of the tree has all the cells necessary to heal wounds. Never cut into the branch collar when pruning. Although you don't want to cut into the branch collar, you should also avoid leaving a stub, from which suckers, or water sprouts, may grow. Moving up the tree, look for branch angles, or scaffolding branches: branches that grow from the main trunk, preferably evenly spaced, at 45- or 50-degree angles. Leave these scaffolding branches for the basic framework of your tree. Fruiting buds are dark-colored, wrinkled wood that grows from scaffolding branches. Leave these small branches -- they're the ones that produce fruit. Trees begin to form fruiting buds at around three years of age. Vegetative buds are similar in appearance to fruiting buds, but they're not so wrinkled and dark. These buds form leaves and new branches. Remove any competing branches that will cause problems for the tree. Sometimes these branches create a hollow where water can collect and encourage rot. Look for branches growing toward the inside of the tree, and remove them to improve air circulation. When you remove a branch or a limb, the bud directly under the cut will take over and grow. For this reason, you should cut above outward-facing buds. A fruit tree should have only one central leading branch. Don't allow two leader branches to form, or the tree will become weak. Identify the healthier leader, and remove the other. The ideal is one central leader surrounded by evenly spaced scaffolding branches that have plenty of fruiting spurs. Tip: - If your apple tree is lacking the scaffold branches -- the lower branches that are actually good on an apple tree -- you can force them to come out. Find a bud and use a knife to make a nick a millimeter above and below it. Then cut the notch between the nicks completely out, making sure to cut through the bark and the green layer beneath it (figure A). That will force the tree to grow a new branch on the spot.
RESOURCES :
Tools for pruning
Gardener's Supply Company
Burlington, VT 05401-2850
Fax: 800-551-6712 -or- 80
Email: info@gardeners.com
Website: www.gardeners.com
GUESTS :
Charlie Nardozzi
180 Flynn Ave.
Burlington, VT 05401
Phone: 802-863-1308
Tollfree Phone: 800-538-7476
Fax: 802-863-5962
Email: nga@garden.com
Website: www.garden.com
National Gardening Association
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