Pruning is the most important event in the life of a fruit tree. Starting pruning the apple tree from the moment of planting, it continues throughout the life of the tree. We will find out why most gardeners are engaged in pruning apple trees in spring, and how to correctly perform it depending on the age of the tree.
What is pruning an apple tree in spring for?
An apple tree can be cut in any of the seasons - in spring or autumn. In the fall, it is customary to do sanitary pruning, but it is recommended that crown formation be done only in the spring. In autumn, it is important to prune at such a time that the wounds can heal, in spring there is no such problem - the tree has a whole summer ahead to heal the wounds.
Spring Trimming Tasks:
- Removing damaged, old, diseased and frozen branches.
- Removing branches that interfere with the penetration of sunlight into the fruit.
- The uniform distribution of the forces of the apple tree - their direction to the productive branches with fruits.
- Pruning too long branches - they often break due to the severity of the fruit.
- Removal of young shoots, tops, competitive branches.
- Correction of cropping errors made in the fall.
The lack of competent pruning leads to a decrease in yield and a deterioration in the quality characteristics of fruits - they become small and ripen for a long time.
Spring pruning is especially important for young animals, as rapidly growing branches can shift the center of gravity of a tree, bending its trunk.
Terms and conditions of trimming
The trimming time is chosen, focusing not on any date, but on climatic conditions in a particular region. When choosing the timing of pruning, it is important to keep within a small time interval suitable for the event - between the awakening of a tree and the formation of buds.
You cannot be late with pruning - it is important to carry out it 3-4 weeks before the start of sap flow. But do not rush - after winter, the wood is very fragile, and early cutting is harmful to it.
Gardeners choose the pruning scheme at their discretion, given:
- age and size of the tree;
- workload;
- the location of the tree on the site.
The gardener during the spring pruning of the apple tree forms a crown of a certain shape:
- rounded
- pyramidal;
- flat horizontal;
- flat vertical;
- columnar;
- curly.
Training
To carry out high-quality trimming, in addition to knowledge or a guide to action, high-quality tools and means for processing slices are needed.
Instruments
To prune fruit trees, you need a sharpened, clean and sanitized tool without any signs of corrosion - rust can cause decay of branches, and then the whole tree.
Inexperienced gardeners are sure that any construction saw is suitable for pruning. In fact, you need a whole arsenal of tools to work. When spring pruning, you have to use:
- secateurs;
- garden knife;
- delimbers with rods of different lengths - to remove hard-to-reach branches;
- garden saws with special bends and narrowing at the end of the blade.
Slices should be perfectly even. If you have no experience, carry out a training pruning before approaching the fruit tree.
Take a bottle of alcohol with you to the garden - clean the tools before work and after each cut branch.
Processing facilities
To prevent leakage of juice and infection of the tree, be sure to lubricate the sections of the branches with one of the processing agents. Can be used:
- garden mastic or garden var;
- a solution of copper sulfate and lime in a proportion of 1:10;
- plasticine;
- oil paint.
There is an opinion that trees do not need to cut slices, they supposedly will recover better. Lubricate the slices or not - each gardener decides for himself.
Cropping patterns
There are two options for spring pruning:
- Thinning. It consists in the complete removal of part of the branches that interfere with the penetration of sunlight into the fruits. When trimming, a small knot should remain - you can’t cut a branch under the trunk itself, but you can’t leave a long branch either. With this pruning scheme, the tree grows well in the horizontal and vertical directions, but there is no lateral branching in the crown.
- Shortening. Pruning part of the shoot that has grown over the year. After trimming, the branches thicken, lateral shoots appear on them. With this pruning scheme, growth in height and width is inhibited, but lateral shoots grow faster than the cuts.
Pruning young and adult apple trees
Pruning of apple trees is carried out annually. The first time the seedling is cut back in the nursery, leaving from 3 to 5 skeletal branches on the central trunk. The following spring shorten apical shoots, forming side branches. Each spring, pruning is repeated, but its technique varies depending on the age of the tree. Let's consider how to cut young and adult apple trees.
Annual seedling
The one-year-old seedling planted in the fall is cut off six months later - in the spring. If the seedling is planted in the spring, then pruning is carried out immediately after planting. Thus, already in the first year after planting a tree, its crown is formed. If the tree has the correct structure, it will not need any additional supports in the future - due to the balanced ratio between the location of the branches and the number of apples.
Please note that the future harvests depend on how correctly pruning the apple tree in the first spring. The most popular option is a sparse multi-tiered crown.
Step-by-step instruction for pruning an annual seedling:
- Trim the central trunk at a height of 0.8-1.0 m from the ground. Due to the shortening of the main conductor, the lateral branches, which subsequently become skeletal, activate their growth.
- Remove all buds and branches (if any) in the area of the stem - from the surface of the earth to the first tier of skeletal branches.
- If the seedling has already acquired branches, outline those from which the first tier will be formed. 3-5 branches are enough - they should be directed in different directions so that the tree is symmetrical and balanced. If there are no branches yet, add 5-8 buds for the first tier (take more than necessary - in reserve).
- Remove all branches forming an angle with the trunk less than 45 degrees. If left, they break off either during a storm or under a load of fruit.
- Branches that will be skeletal, cut to 30-40 cm, shortening by 3-5 kidneys.
When cutting off excess branches, be sure to leave those that are located at a large angle. Such branches are distinguished by strength and productivity.
When choosing the height of the first tier of skeletal branches, keep in mind that a too low shaft will make it difficult to care for a tree, and a too high one will be prone to sunburn.
The first spring pruning is a must. The seedling during the most careful planting violates the root system. By trimming the branches, the gardener optimally distributes the nutrients in the tree.
Two year old seedling
When pruning a two-year-old seedling, follow the rules similar to working with annual trees. Out of all the available branches, leave those that are suitable for forming a reliable structure of the apple tree. Form the crown from 3-5 strong skeletal branches, remove all the others. Note that the conductor is located above all other branches by 4-5 buds, which corresponds to approximately 30 cm.
Instructions for pruning a two-year-old seedling:
- Form a tiered crown by trimming the lower and upper branches by different sizes. The lower branches should be longer than the branches of the upper tier by about 25-30 cm. Pruning the shoots from which skeletal branches will be formed stimulates branching.
- Shorten the branches growing between the tiers, bend them at an obtuse angle - so that they quickly proclaim. If you then select a longline crown, then remove them.
- If the tip is bifurcated, then remove the less strong one from the two branches. You can also make a skeletal branch from an extra branch, moving it by stretching to the second or third tier.
Skeletal branches should extend from the central conductor at an angle of 60-90 degrees, not less.
When pruning young apple trees, the extra lateral branches are removed gradually. They are left temporarily - so that a stable, expanding downward trunk is formed.
In the video below you can see the correct pruning of young seedlings for crown formation:
Fruit tree
When pruning fruiting apple trees, it is recommended to shorten the main branches - to slightly slow down the growth of the tree. If it spends energy on the growth of branches, the fruit will have less nutrients. With a correctly formed crown, there will be no special work with spring pruning.
Features pruning fruiting apple trees:
- Inspect the crown and remove the branches that thicken it.
- Cut off all the tops. Vertical growths only interfere with the tree - absorb its strength and prevent the penetration of the sun to the fruit.
Rejuvenation of an old tree
30 years for an apple tree is not a sentence. Thanks to anti-aging pruning, you can extend the productive life of the fruit tree. Removing everything superfluous, old and rotten, you will save the garden from the branches in which infection and pests can hide. Anti-aging pruning makes sense if the trunk of an old tree is intact and there are several strong skeletal branches. Old apple trees are pruned every 2 years.
Features of anti-aging trim:
- Remove the shoots that obscure the fruiting branches.
- Take away the branches growing inward.
- Trim the top of the trunk at a height of 3 m so that the crown is open.
- Cut dried and damaged branches.
- Remove unpromising branches, and you will increase the yield of the old apple tree.
- The next year, during spring pruning, remove the skeletal branches that interfere with the fruiting branches.
During anti-aging pruning, 1/3 of all branches and shoots are cut. Most likely, this year there will be no special harvest. In order for the update processes to start in the tree, over the next two years it will be necessary to repeat the rejuvenation of the tree.
Trellis Trees
With apple trees formed on wire trellises, it is easy to collect fruits. Rules for trimming wood on a trellis:
- To make the tree grow in one plane, direct the most powerful branches in opposite directions. The angle of deviation from the central trunk is straight or blunt.
- Shorten the conductor at a distance of 0.5 m from the branches.
- After a year, repeat the pruning pattern - the side branches are fixed horizontally. Trim the weakened branches and the competitive top shoot. Similarly to the previous year, shorten the conductor.
- In the summer, lift the young apical shoots of the lateral fixed branches with stretch marks upwards so that they do not lag behind in growth in height from the central trunk.
- Form the third tier in the same way as the previous scheme - fasten powerful branches, cut off the vertical and weakened ones. If you will form the 4th tier, cut or tilt the conductor at right angles, creating the last horizontal line.
Efforts to form the crown are not in vain - trellis apple trees look very beautiful. In height, such trees reach 1.8 m - on dwarf, and 2.5 m - on vigorous stocks.
Pruning dwarf trees
Dwarf apple trees no less than usual need pruning. But it is carried out in express mode. First, sanitary pruning is done, removing all broken and weakened branches. At the same time, the crown of the tree is formed. The pruning event for dwarf apple trees begins in the first spring.
Step-by-step instructions for pruning a dwarf apple tree:
- In the first spring, shorten the main shoot at a height of 0.5 m from the ground. Do the cut over the kidney - in the opposite direction of the vaccine. As a result of such pruning, by the fall, 4 shoots should appear on the tree - the vertical one will become a conductor.
- In the second spring, cut off the top, stepping back from the base by 20 cm. Similarly, cut the side shoots - at a distance of 20 cm.
- Trim the extra side shoots. Trim Level - 3rd sheet.
- In the third spring and all subsequent, cut the tree in the same way as the second spring.
- When the dwarf tree grows to your desired height, annually remove the growing section of the conductor. Cut side shoots when their length exceeds 40-50 cm.
- Perform sanitary pruning every year.
- To keep the main branches horizontal, cut off their growth directed to the surface of the earth.
We recommend reading the article on the spring vaccination of apple trees.
Young tree
Trimming 3-5 year old seedlings takes a minimum of time. Pruning, although minimal, is extremely important for apple trees that begin to bear fruit.
Instructions for pruning young apple trees by year:
- Third spring:
- Shorten the shoots in the second tier - by 10-15 cm.
- Cut the growth of skeletal branches by 10 cm.
- If you want, you can leave a few skeletal branches of the second plan. Also shorten them by 10-15 cm.
- Remove all branches competing with the main conductor and with the skeletal branch conductors. Growth on them also cut.
- Fourth spring:
- Shorten the center conductor by 1/3 or 1/4 so that the annual part does not exceed 60 cm in length.
- Remove the branches of the first tier with an acute angle of departure. The minimum angle is 40-60 degrees.
- Similar to the previous year, continue to form the second tier of skeletal branches.
- Thin out the crown by removing all year-old processes longer than 0.7 m. Shorten all other processes by making them skeletal branches.
- Fifth Spring:
- Choose a strong branch with a large angle of departure. It should be 50 cm above the second tier.
- Shorten the selected branch by a third or a quarter of the length. If necessary, increase the angles of departure of the skeletal branches of the 1st and 2nd tiers.
- Try to leave the third skeletal branch in the 1st tier, in the 2nd - the first. Next, form a crown similar to the previous year.
Crown formation is completed on the 6th year. In the sixth spring, it remains to allocate another skeletal branch in the 2nd tier. In the following sprouts, thin out the crown and remove the extra processes.
An experienced gardener shows how to prune a young apple tree in spring in his video below:
Caring for the apple after pruning
After pruning, the apple tree needs care:
- Treat each slice using one of the above tools - preferably a garden var or a solution of copper sulfate.
- Regularly remove weeds and loosen the soil in the tree-trunk circle so that air enters the roots.
- Mulch the soil near the tree by pouring a layer of rotted manure. Layer thickness - 3 cm.
- During the growing season, treat the tree with fungicides and insecticides - drugs from diseases and pests.
Every gardener should know what diseases apple trees have, so this article may be useful to you.
Popular Beginner Mistakes
Pruning is an event that requires certain knowledge, even experienced gardeners often make mistakes, especially since beginners are not safe from them. Try to avoid common mistakes among gardeners:
- Do not leave hemp. Perform circular cutting so that the tree itself heals the wound.
- Do not randomly shorten the apical conductor of a young seedling - this leads to the appearance of several shoots at the apex, which weaken the lateral ones.
- Do not use a sharpened or disinfected tool. Such an error leads to the formation of scoring in the cortex, which prevents the healing of wounds.
Advantages and disadvantages
Spring pruning is a mandatory event with a lot of advantages:
- Forms a beautiful crown.
- Strengthens the trunk and branches.
- Increases light penetration to fruits.
- Releases from damaged branches.
- Prevents the development of diseases.
- Reduces the number of apple pest larvae.
- Allows you to get the desired number of fruit-bearing branches.
- Rejuvenates old branches and increases the strength of young branches.
There is one drawback with spring pruning - the difficulty in determining the optimal timing. Gardeners have to focus on the weather and their intuition.
Proper spring pruning will allow you to grow a beautiful, strong and productive tree from a small seedling. Remember that pruning is especially important in the first years of life, so carefully prepare for the event, study the instructions, sharpen the tool and grab the garden var.
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