Shaping a quince with a tree

When growing quince, the formation in the form of a tree is most often used, which allows you to get a compact plant that is easy to care for. Regular and correct pruning will not only give the tree a beautiful shape, but will also greatly facilitate caring for it, as well as harvesting.

How to trim?

If you decide to grow quince with a tree, the first step is to expel the stem, that is, the central, main, trunk. To do this, leave one, the most important, shoot, and cut out all the rest of the shoots from the root.

Now you can proceed directly to the formation of the crown itself:

1. At a height of 50-70 cm from the soil level, shorten the top of the central (and so far only) trunk.
2. When the seedling releases lateral branches next year, they must also be shortened, leaving no more than 40 cm.
3. Do the same with each subsequent group of lateral neoplasms, cutting them off at a height (length) of 40 cm and branching the crown.

All root shoots that form during the growing season must be completely cut out.

It should be borne in mind that too strong pruning only harm: it will postpone fruiting and cause active growth of shoots, which will lead to thickening of the crown.

When to trim?

To speed up the formation of the crown, formative pruning can be carried out in the summer. In this case, at the beginning of summer, annual shoots are shortened, and until the end of July, only wen are cut out. In addition, removing the central shoot will help to restrain crown growth. This should be done in the summer, leaving the side branches, then the tree will grow not in height, but in width.

In the spring, the young branches formed in the summer must also be shortened. At the same time, the work to curb the growth of the crown does not stop, and only horizontal lateral shoots are left from young shoots, and the central ones growing vertically are removed completely, unless the goal is to get a large tree.

To speed up the onset of fruiting, you can make a notch of the fruit buds.

General principles of the formation and pruning of quince

When trimming, it is necessary to take into account the following nuances:

• from the root to the beginning of the crown (the location of the lateral branches) should be at least 50, but not more than 70 cm;
• the maximum number of branches on a tree is 15 pieces, of which 2-3 are five-year old branches, up to 4 pieces of three-year and two-year-old shoots and young growth (if you leave more, the crown will be thickened, which will affect both the appearance and fruiting);
• since after reaching the age of five, the yield on such shoots drops greatly, they must be completely removed with replacement for a young growth);
• pinching of vertically located branches should be carried out before budding.

In addition to shaping, quince must be kept in good condition at all times. To do this, in the spring, remove the shoots growing inside the crown and vertically towards the ground, in contact with it, as well as all dry and damaged branches.