If the tree is looking out of balance, prop it up with a sturdy branch or post. As well as considering which branches you will remove this year, try to think about the ones you will remove the following year, making sure you are not making your tree too unbalanced in the mean time. Take your time over this it is all too easy to over-prune or take out a branch you later decide was worth keeping if you don’t have a plan.
Walk around your tree, mapping it in your head and decide how you will prune the tree and which branches will be retained for new growth. These types of tree don’t respond well to major pruning.
Stone fruits (plums, damsons, gages and cherries) should only be pruned in summer between May and September, to minimise the risk of silver leaf infection. Healthy cropping should resume in the second year when the rejuvinated wood starts producing new fruit spurs on the two year old wood. This also allows time to assess how the tree is responding before continuing the work. If you prune a tree hard, you will almost certainly need to summer prune to thin out some of these new shoots and direct the energy into well-placed new branches. Winter pruning encourages strong spring growth, and the lack of leaves means you can better see the structure and shape of your tree. When is the best time to winter prune?įor apple and pear trees this is best done between November and March, while the tree is dormant and preferably during dry, frost-free weather. It removes weak, crowded and unhelpful growth and increases the vigour of your tree in the next growing season. Winter pruning apples and pears helps maintain the shape and balance trees on established frameworks. What is winter pruning and why do we do it?
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