Fruit Tree Pruning

One of our biggest tasks this season came from one of our biggest blessings on the farm - it already has about 10 mature and producing fruit trees:  apple, pear and cherry.   We know these trees produce; last fall we had a good number of very tasty apples, even though we had not moved to the property full time to care for the trees.  Last June we saw lots of nascent cherries but unfortunately missed them at full ripeness.  So, needless to say, we know they are relatively healthy trees.  

We looked at our trees and knew that they needed some help, but didn't know quite what to do - or when to do it. Since there are a lot of orchards around the area, we supplemented our tree book learnin' with observing how the old timers managed their fruit trees. It may not look like much from the pictures, heck, it doesn't look like much in person, but it took a lot of time. Sawing and shearing away, squinting into the sun, and sore backs were all a part of preparing these trees for their optimal health this season. 

Our trees after being pruned, with half to a third water sprouts remaining

 

Because the prior owners were older, the trees had not been tended for the past couple years.  So we had some catching up to do.  Pruning fruit trees is different from pruning other trees.  It’s not for shade, shapeliness or even to maximize tree growth.  It is to coax the tree into maximum fruit production.  The general idea is that you don’t want the tree expending its energy on growing fast, non-fruiting branches and shoots (called water sprouts), but rather to put its water and energy into developed fruiting branches or new branches that will soon yield fruit.   It is best to prune in late winter or very early spring, before the tree starts to bud.

After some reading and experimentation we went at it with a few goals in mind:

1)Priority one is getting rid of the water spouts that grow straight up off the top of the tree or off the main trunks.  These sap a lot of energy and don’t fruit.

2)Get rid of any deadwood

3)Get rid of any shoots coming from the bottom or roots of the tree

4)Open up the center of the tree for light

5)Get rid of any branches that cross or rub that might be an entrance for infections

Examples of water sprouts

 

Since we were making up for years of little or no pruning there was a lot to do.  We hacked and sawed with our pruner for hours over many days.  Often it seemed like we weren’t making a dent.  One consequence of the trees not being tended for a while is that we didn’t want to take off all the water sprouts because that might shock the tree.  So we only removed about half to two-thirds of them.  It was good for the tree and a good excuse for us.  Now, though, we’ll have a leg up on pruning next year.

Here’s hoping we’ll get some awesome fruit this summer!