Hang out with your deciduous fruit trees this month to consider your winter pruning. What a difference this virtual run through makes on pruning day! Regardless of whether you are full of confidence or a beginner, we all prune better by far when we are connected to our trees.
Each tree is different, you see. Some grow loads of shoots and some do not. Some grow straight up and some fling their arms wide. Some fruit steadily, year in and out and some are erratic.
Different also, because they are all planted in different places. In shady places, trees need to be shaped taller to find the light. In windy places they need to be low and wide, to duck down out of the wind. Some need to elevate away from hungry mouths (stock I’m thinking here), or rise above mowers or pathways or lower growing shrubs. Trees are malleable, and able to fit the landscape.
Mastery comes with practice and plenty of time spent together. You’re a team, you see – therein lies the joy, and because of the joy, your feet will take you more and more often to be with your trees. The more time you spend with your trees the more you understand them, ergo the better you prune. Around we go.
Go for a tool free wander, perhaps with a pruner friend if you feel unsure. My Back to Basics pruning videos are down below if you need help, and there’s always my little pruning book.
As you visit with each tree, notice it’s natural shape (upright, wide, leggy, compact), and consider how you’d like to shape it to best fit your environment. Somewhere between these 2 is the sweet spot!
Think also, about what this tree needs. Is it poorly and needs more vigour – in this case a strong, bold prune will promote strong growth next year. Is it way too vigorous? Then tread carefully my friend and focus more on training than pruning – tie upright branches to the horizontal. And the cuts you do make – choose with care. Do the bare essentials this winter (the following checklist will help) and wait until spring for height reduction. All these things help steady growth.
Start by finding the main leader and scaffold branches. Don’t worry just yet about all the smaller shoots, look beneath them to the structure. It takes a while for your eyes to get used to looking this way, but keep on it and you’ll develop tree vision. The photo above shows an apple trained as a central leader and below shows a plum in a vase shape. These are the 2 basic shapes.
Let there be light! Light is key – it inspires flowering, fresh shoots and of course ripening. Prune for good light distribution throughout the tree and you wont go wrong.
Are there any low branches beneath the first scaffold, therefore in the dark, that need to come off?
Is your tree leaning heavily in one direction, or has more branches on one side than the other? What branches can you remove to bring better alignment + balance? Be bold and thin!
Do you need to reduce height? Take the full grown height of the tree into consideration here. A tree that wants to be 5m isn’t going to be happy being pruned hard back to 2.5m. Allow the tree to express itself as fully as possible and it’ll be less likely to shoot vigorously next year.
How are your young trees shaping up? Years 1 – 4 are the years to develop a balanced, compact framework. I prefer training – tying branches down into place – over pruning in the first few years. Though there will always be a small cut or two.