Your garden's harvest depends on pruning fruit trees.

Planting a garden is only the first step to harvesting. In order for it to bear fruit well and not get sick, pruning of fruit trees is needed. Do it in spring and autumn. Let's talk about spring.

ABOUTby cutting a plant, you injure it. Therefore, it is very important to choose the type and quality of the instrument that you are using. It depends on them whether the tree will recover quickly.

You will need:

• garden knife;
• secateurs;
• hacksaw.

It is recommended to cut the branches with a knife. The pruner is lighter, but it does more harm: it compresses the wood strongly, and then the wound heals longer. In order for the garden to recover faster, the cut must be even. This can only be achieved with a garden knife.

Spring pruning of fruit trees

Amateur gardeners often have a question: when to prune fruit trees in spring, is it possible after the start of sap flow? It all depends on the condition of your garden. The trunk split, branches broke under the weight of the snow? Of course, cropping is inevitable. When there is nothing like this, then you should not injure the trees. After all, pruning is not an end in itself. If you form trees according to the rules, you only need a minimal corrective operation, which can be completely dispensed with.

Pruning fruit trees is an important factor for a healthy and fruitful garden. And you need to do it skillfully. First of all, you should remove the shoots:

• which depart from the trunk at an acute angle;
• directed to the center of the crown;
• which do not bear fruit (tops).

There are several rules that professional gardeners always adhere to:

1. Pruning should be started as soon as the big frosts have slept (most often this is the end of January, beginning of March). Thus, the wounds will not freeze, and when sap flow begins, they will heal quickly. The cuts should be even, smooth. They must be greased with garden var.
2. You need to cut the shoots above the eyes that grow outward from the crown. A cut is made from the inside out.
3. Branches that are an extension of the trunk should be longer than the rest.
4. Short pruning is done on weak trees. Cropped over the second or third eyes.
5. With strong growth, medium pruning is done. The branches are cut over the fifth eye.
6. For vigorous trees, a long pruning is carried out, leaving eight or more eyes.

 

Crown formation

You can start forming the crown of a young tree in the second year of its life and continue for several years. Fruits on apple and pear trees appear on perennial shoots, and plums and cherries bear fruit the next year after planting. Knowing this, spring pruning of fruit trees can be done without much damage to the future harvest. Widespread non-tiered and sparse-tiered systems of crown formation. The latter is ideal for cherries, plums, cherry plums. The basis of such a crown is a trunk and up to a dozen lateral branches that grow from the trunk in tiers at a distance of up to twenty centimeters from each other.

And so, how to properly prune fruit trees in spring and form a crown? Proceed as follows:

1. The guide is the central shoot, cut about 80 cm from the base. The main thing: up to a dozen kidneys should remain on the conductor. New shoots, side branches will go from them. This is the first tier.
2. Next year, remove the branches damaged during the winter, choose three or four strong ones. Delete the rest. This is the second tier.
3. Therefore, to the same principle, form the third tier already in the fourth year.
4. The tree has reached a height of four meters (undersized fruit trees - maximum), remove the guide above the upper branch. Thus, stop growth, completely form the crown of the tree.

You need to prune trees regularly: once a year or in spring and autumn. At any time, as needed, make sanitary or corrective pruning.

Pruning fruit trees in spring; the timing is late winter or early spring. This is especially important for apricot, cherry, peach, cherry plum. In summer, pruning is done only to remove tops, branches that contribute to unnecessary crown density.

Description: a - shortening of shoots in the first year; b, c - shaping pruning of crown shoots along a given contour; d - sanitary pruning (removal of dry branches); e - pruning and thinning in order to improve aeration (before and after); e - rejuvenation of old trees.

Pruning mature fruit trees

Your garden is already bearing fruit. But he, like young trees, requires maintenance and removal of dried or diseased branches. How to prune fruit trees correctly in spring?

The thickened crown of a fruit tree must be thinned out. After five years, the conductor is removed. This will limit upward growth. Delete a branch in whole or in part. Partial removal will encourage the growth of the branch that is next to it. It is necessary to cut off diseased, dried branches - the illumination of the crown improves, the fruits are distributed evenly.

Pruning is best done when the tree is at rest until sap begins to flow.

If the crown is pyramidal (pear - branches grow up), the growing branches must be lowered down: those that are directed down are left, and those that are up are cut off. In other fruit trees, the branches are pointing downwards - they need to be lifted: remove the branches pointing downwards.

To rejuvenate a tree, you will need to cut out the top of the trunk and thin out the crown. To do this, remove the old, inside the crown, branches that are intertwined. A very dense crown, so as not to severely injure the plant, should not be thinned out overnight, stretch the operation for two to three years.

Schemes for pruning pear, cherry, apple trees

Pruning fruit trees in the spring diagram for pears:

1. In winter, the branches freeze and tops appear. They are completely removed or trimmed.
2. Pruning too much will weaken the tree and produce much later than expected. It is best to do moderate pruning.
3. It is useful to shorten the tree branches slightly. This will only strengthen them.

For cherries, cherries:

1. In young trees, five to seven strong branches are left, "looking" in different directions. The distance between them is up to 10 centimeters.
2. All weak branches are removed.
3. The guide should be 20 centimeters longer than the rest.
4. Cherries and cherries are cut only in spring.

For apple trees:

1. Before you start pruning, you need to clear the trunk, main branches from shoots.
2. It will rejuvenate the old plant, increase the yield by removing a third of the branches and shoots - the main thing is not to overdo it.
3. It is necessary to carry out pruning for several years.

A few tips from experienced gardeners

When working in your garden, consider the experience of other gardeners and do not forget:

1. When removing branches, do not leave hemp, cut off at the very trunk.
2. A properly made cut leaves a trace of a neatly overgrown “ring”.
3. When removing thick branches, first cut from the bottom and then from the top. Thus, the bark will remain intact if the branch falls.
4. The shoot was removed incorrectly, there is damage - clean it, process the cut with a pitch.
5. It is better to wait until next spring with pruning of frozen trees.
6. Seal the hollows, you cannot drill drainage holes.
7. If there is a danger of the branches breaking off under the weight of the fruit, do not place supports. It is better to partially cut off the fruit. Otherwise, the plant will get used to it and will not be able to hold the branches on its own.

You will learn how to properly cut the plant and not damage it by watching the video at the end of the article.

Tips from seasoned gardeners

1. When pruning, the pruning shears must be held with a narrow part towards the branch.
2. If you want to form a lush crown of a young tree, shorten the guide by ¼.
3. There should be only one conductor. There are competitors - liquidate.

A year after planting the plant, shorten its trunk by 20 centimeters, and the branches to 7 centimeters. Please note: the branches at the bottom should be longer.

Spring pruning fruit trees video