pruning and training fruit trees in the home landscape · pruning and training fruit trees ......

PruningandTrainingFruitTreesintheHomeLandscape

WesleyR.Autio1,WinfredP.Cowgill,Jr.2,andJonM.Clements11University of Massachusetts and 2Rutgers University

Deciduousfruittreeshavelongbeenapartofthehomelandscape.Thegraceofthetreeand

beautyofthebloommakethemveryattractiveplants,butthetasteoffreshfruitfromawellmanagedfruittreeisunsurpassed.Unfortunately,however,fruittreesprovideseveralhorticulturalchallenges,asignificantonebeingtreetraining.Weuse“training”ratherthanorinadditionto“pruning”toreflect

thewidevarietyoftechniquesthatshouldbeusedtomanageboththevegetative(shootsandleaves)andthereproductive(flowersandfruit)growthofthetree.

Becauseofthebrevityofthispublication,wewillconcentrateontwospeciesoftreefruit,applesandpeaches.They,generally,typifytwocategories:treeswhichflowerandfruitlargelyonspurs

originatingon2‐yearorolderwood(apples,pears,plums,apricots,andcherries)andtreeswhichflowerandfruiton1‐year‐oldwood(thatwhichwasproducedlastyear)only(peaches).

General Considerations 

Whypruneandtrain?Adesirablefruittreeinthelandscapeisonewhichproduceshighqualityfruitannually,isstructurallysound,andisaestheticallypleasing.Pruningandtrainingareusedtoenhancelightpenetrationintothetreecanopyandasaresultcausethetreetoproducelargeandtasty

fruitthroughout.Pruningandtrainingareusedtoincreasebranchstrengthandeliminateweakbranchessothattheresultingcanopyiscapableofcarryingafruitcropwithoutlimbbreakage.Bothpruningandtrainingalsoareusedtomaintainthetreecanopyintheavailablespaceandtomakethat

themostvisuallypleasingtreepossible.Beawarethattheremaysometimesbeaconflictbetweenoptimalfruitproductionandaesthetics.

Tools.Pruningoffruittreesrequiresthreeprimarytools(seeFigure1).Bypasshandprunersareanecessity.Goodqualitypruners,suchasFelcoorPica,shouldcostbetween$35and$60.Youalso

shouldhaveapairofbypassloppers(24‐26”)withanicelycurvedhookontheblade.Barnell,Corona,andBahcoproduceloppersinthiscategorycostbetween$45and$100.

Thelasttoolisagoodsaw.Ourfavoriteisa13”curvedbladepruningsawwithaJapanese‐styleblade(Tri‐cut,TigerTooth,TurboCut,etc.).Thisisapullsawwithaverysharpbladeand

costsbetween$20and$30.Itisbestalsotopurchaseasheathorscabbardforthesawtobothprotectthebladeandyoufromtheblade($20to$30).

Seasonofpruning.Pruningisbestdoneondrydaysinthelatewinterorearlyspring.Apples,

Figure1.Basictree‐fruitpruningtools.

however,canbeprunedaslateasearlyJunewithnoilleffects.Watersproutscanberemovedinmid‐summer.Removaloflargerbranchesinthesummer,fall,orearlywintergreatlyenhancetheoddsof

winterdamage,sincepruningisphysiologicallystimulatingtothetreeandreduceshardening.Peachesareverysensitivetotrunkdiseases,sopruningisbesttimedtooccurintheearlyspring,nearbloom.Atthistimeofyear,thetree’smetabolismisactiveandtreesareabletohealthedamagequickly.

Pruning and Training Apple Trees 

Asnotedabove,appletreesflowerandfruitonspursborneon2‐year‐oldandolderwood.Thegreatestnumberandhighestqualityfruitareproduced

onwoodthatisbetween3‐and4‐yearsold.Pruningandtrainingeffortsarefocusedonmaximizingtheamountoffruitfulwoodinatreeandprovidingtheconditionswherethiswoodcanproducefruitofhigheatingquality.Much

researchandexperiencehasshownthattheeasiesttreeformwithwhichtoattainthesegoalsisacentralleader,atreewithasingletrunkandgenerallyaconicalshape(seeFigure2).Wewilldetailafewoftheapproachesnecessaryto

obtainandmaintaintheidealtree.

Topruneornottoprune!Withayoung,newlyplantedtree,itisimportanttoavoidpruningasmuchaspossible.Pruningwilldelaytheonsetoffloweringandfruiting,anditwillreducetheamountoffruitobtainedearlyinthe

lifeofthetree.Thisisnottosaythatyoushouldavoidworkingwithyournewlyplantedtree.Thisisthetime,instead,whenyouwillrelyonothertechniquestomanagethegrowthofthetree.

Limbbending.Itisamazinghowmuchthelimbanglefromthetrunkcanaffectthegrowthandfruitingofthatlimb.

Itstartswhenthelimbisverysmall.Movingtheyounglimbsothatithasabouta90oanglefromthetrunkwillensurethatitwillhaveastrongconnectiontothattrunk,onethatwillnot

breakunderseveralpoundsoffruit.Thebesttimetoestablishthisangleiswhentheshootisabout6incheslong,maybesometimeinlateMayorearlyJune.Thisangleis

easilysetwithaclothespinclampedontothetrunkabovetheshoot(seeFigure3).

Afterastrong“crotchangle”isestablished,limbbendingisusedto

altervegetativegrowthandflowering/fruiting.Morespecifically,alimbgrowingverticallywillproduceaverystronggrowth,mostlyfromthetipbuds,andverylittlefruit.Onegrowinghorizontally,ontheotherhand,willproduce

onlyasmallamountofgrowthdistributedthroughoutthebranchandwillproducemanymorefruit.Adjustingtheanglebetweenverticalandhorizontal

(orevenbelowhorizontal)allowyoutomanipulategrowthandfruiting(see

Figure3.Woodenclothespinusedtomaintainawideanglebetweenthebranchandthetrunk(attheendoftheseason).

Figure4.Limbanglecanaffectbothshootgrowthandfruiting.

Figure2.Conicalshapeofacentral‐leaderappletree.

Figure4).Ingeneral,aconicallyshapedtreecanbeobtainedbymaintaininglowerbranchesinclinedat

about45oandupperbrancheshorizontalordeclinedby10‐20o.Thisapproachcanresultinthedevelopmentofaconicalshapewithoutpruning.It

isimportanttorealizethatthevigorofatreeisnaturallygreateratthetopthanthebottom,soifyousettheanglesthroughoutthetreetothesame

angle,thestrongestbrancheswillbeatthetopandtheweakestatthebottom(seeFigure5).Limbbendingcanbeperformedwithanyapproachwhich

givesthedesiredresults.Popularapproachesincludetyingwithstringorrubberbands,weights,spacingwithsticksorwires.

Pruning.Whenatreebeginstomature,pruningbecomesamoreimportantpartofthetraining

process.Itisdifficulttogiveafulldescriptionoftheartandscienceofpruning.Instead,wewillgiveyousevenbasicrulestofollowasyoupruningyourtrees.Beforewediscussrules,realizethatexposureoftheinnerpartofthetreecanopytosunlightiscriticalforthedevelopmentofflowerbuds,and

trainingandpruningshouldstrivetomaximizetheamountofsunlightinterceptedbythetree.Shadeisyourenemy!Rememberalsothatnewshootsgrownthisseasonwillproduceflowerbudsnextseason,whichwillbloomandhopefullyproducefruitinthenextseason.Sevenrules:

1. Remove2or3ofthelargestlimbsitnthetoptwothirdsofthe

tree.Removethesebrancheswitharenewal(orbevel)cut(seeFigure6).

2. Removeanyscaffoldbranchorlimbthatishalfthediameterorlargeratitsbasethanthecentraltrunkatthesamepoint(“2‐to‐1Rule”).Abranchofthissizechokesouttheleader,not

allowingthetreetoreachoptimalfruiting.Removesuchbrancheswitharenewalcut.

3. Avoidheadingcuts(oneswhereonlyaportionofthebranchis

removed).Instead,removetheentirelimb. 4. Reducethecomplexityofbranchesintheloweronethirdofthetree.Asbranchesonlateral

limbsgetolder,theydevelopadditionalbranches.Thisiswhatwecallacomplexbranch.Leave

thesmaller,pencil‐thickfruitingshoots.5. Removedownwardhangingbranches.6. Removeshootsthataregrowingstraightup.

7. Leaveoneshootasthecentralleader,anddonotpruneit.

Pruning and Training Peach Trees 

Pruningpeachtreesdiffersgreatlyfromthepruningandtrainingofapples.Sincetheyfruiton

Figure5.Limbangleaffectsgrowth,butnaturalgrowthismorevigorousatthetopofthetreethanatthebottom,withthesamebranchangle.

Figure6.Renewalorbevelcutwithincreasethechancesofanewusableshootbeingproduced.

theshootsthatwereproducedinthepreviousseason,itisimportanttoobtaingoodgrowtheachyearforthefollowing

yearsfruiting.Peachtreesareveryvigorousandhavethecapacitytogrowagreatdealeachyear.Becauseofthenatureofthetreeandthewayfruitareproduced,peachesarebest

growntoanopencenter(orvase)form(seeFigure7).Treesshouldhave3to5mainscaffoldbranchesoriginatingfromatrunk,2‐3feetfromthesoilsurface.Thisstructureshouldbe

developedbypruninginthefirstfewseasonsafterplanting.

One‐year‐oldshootsthatarereasonablylongandabout1/4”indiameterproducethebestlargefruit,sothegoalinpruningistomaintainasmanyofthoseaspossible.Awellmanagedtree,however,willproducemorethanenoughoftheseshoots.Amaturepeachtreeneedsonlybetween75and90of

theseshootstoproduceafullcrop.Peachescannotmatureasmanyfruitastheynormallyset,requiringremovalofsignificantnumbersofyoungfruiteachyear.Reducingthenumberofshoots,particularlytheonesoflowerfruitingpotential,candramaticallyreducetheneedtoremoveyoungfruit.Peach

pruningandtrainingrules:

1. Delaypruninguntiljustpriortotheopeningofflowers,onadryday.

2. Removethestrongest,mostuprightshoots

completely,ifpossible.3. Removeshootsthataredroopingsignificantly

belowhorizontal.

4. Oftheshootproducedinthepreviousseason,selectbetween75and90whicharelong,without

sidebranches,andatleastthediameterofapencil.RemoveALLothershoots.SeeFigure8.5. Aftertheflowerhasfallenoffandthedevelopingfruitletisvisable(lateMaytoearlyJune),

removeexcessfruit,leavingnomorethanonefruit

every10inchesalongthelengthoftheseshoots.SeeFigure9.

6. InearlyJuly,removeverystrong,vertically

growing,newshoots.

Peachtreesoftenareshort‐lived,butiftheyareprunedproperlyindryconditionsandthinnedwelleachyear,theyshouldbeabletoproducefruitfor10to15

yearsbeforetheyneedtobereplaced.

Issued by University of Massachusetts Extension, Nancy Garrabrants, Director, in furtherance of the acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914.  University of Massachusetts Extension offers equal opportunity in programs and employment.                          F‐132:1/08‐500

Figure7.Peachtreetrainedtoanopencenter(vase)form.

Figure8.Highqualityshootsonpeachtrees.

Figure9.Thinningpeachfruitletsisrequiredforacropoflarge,high‐qualityfruit.