For those of us who have fruit trees in our gardens, we are all waiting patiently for the blossom to turn into fruit and how much fruit we can depend on how we pruned. To get all the right tips on pruning fruit trees you have to speak to an expert and there’s no better than Balhannah Nurseries, Sam Luke. Here are Sam’s Pruning Tips Pruning – Pointers to remember: • We prune a new tree for shape/setting up the canopy and to balance roots/shoots • Then we only prune to stimulate new growth, remove vegetative growth (+ allow sunlight into canopy, remove dead or diseased wood) • No need to prune every year if tree is steadily growing new shoots each year • Remove large branches that compete with the trunk caliper – thinner horizontal limbs are more productive • Tie branches down in vigorous trees to control vigour and promote fruiting – vertical branches grow vegetative material and don’t tend to fruit • Peaches and nectarines fruit on 1 year old wood, most other things on 2 year old wood • Peaches/Nectarines – vase shape • Apples – branch angles of 90 deg produce most fruit • Apples – look for furry fruiting spurs • Apples – central leader The most important thing to remember when pruning a fruit tree is what type it is. Peaches, apricots and nectarines – leave some new growth to blossom and cut out some of the old wood. Apples and Pears – keep those fruiting spurs on the old wood and reduce the new growth. BALHANNAH NURSERIES WATCH THE CLIP
