Tag Archives: pruning fruit trees

Pruning Fruit Trees and growing advice

Some years ago I had tree arborist, Tracy Neal, (now retired) out to the house to help me with pruning my fruit trees and give me advice on care of them. Not that I hadn’t already pruned (butchered) them that year, it’s just that I needed some tweaking with my pruning skills. Hmm..

When I put them in 30 years ago, I thought all fruit trees should be pruned in a open vase shape but that’s not true. Apple trees should have one central leader up the middle with all the branches off of it (kinda like a xmas tree) while apricots, peaches and plums have the open vase shape or modified vase shape. Sorry the photo is a little blurred. So what did I find out besides that?

 

-We had to trim up the four semi-dwarf apple trees and still do almost every year. At least I didn’t just top them off with shears (bad-no-no). At this age of the trees, it’s too late to do any major adjustment without drastically hurting the tree. (Thank god as I was afraid we might have to cut off some branches as big as my wrist). I told him I had cut off about a third of the top smaller branches of the Granny Smith apple as they grew about 6 feet tall last year and put out LOTS of apples. So much so that many of the branches got too heavy and broke off. So I put 1×4 boards or 2×4 boards that were tall enough with a V cut on the top end (to rest the limb vertically into) and had each heavy branch supported by the board that went to the ground. The weight of the branches on the board should hold the board up.

-Also I didn’t want the trees to get too high and out of control.  When I asked how much to trim off each year, Tracy said you can trim back to the top of where you stand on the ladder (LOL) to help keep it contained. Also I was trimming out too much in the interior. I had to put cages around the apples as well to keep the deer from rutting on them as they killed one-half of one of my apple trees by rubbing their antlers on a limb in fall but the tree survived.

-I need to expand the wells around the trees a little, put some Yum-Yum mix fertilizer around them, sprinkle either Planters II mix or Azomite for minerals on top of soil and scratched in . Then innoculate soil with some mycorrhizal. Pound holes into ground to root area and put mycorrhizal in holes-then water well. Add 2-4 inches of mulch on top of soil keeping it 3″ away from the base of the trunk (if you smother the tree trunk with dirt up to the trunk, it will die).

-The apricot tree is fine and he said each apricot tree is a piece of art. Just had to trim out a few branches that were growing in a walking path and add the above amendments. Unfortunately my one apricot tree is now growing in the shadows of pinyon trees, so now it doesn’t produce fruit. But you know what I call an apricot tree? A good shade tree! Plus it has fantastic color in the fall. Any tree that can grow here is good!

-I have one young pear tree that produced 2 pears last year and hopefully will produce more this year. The deer ate one of the fruit so now they have a cage around it to keep off the deer.

-I asked him about how to water an established tree and he suggested using a soaker hose on each tree at the drip line and inside the well. Water deeply (longer) instead of shallow watering. My spaghetti drip line is not enough anymore.

-I had 2 dead peach trees and 1 dead plum tree. I’m NOT going to replace them as they all require more moisture and are not very drought tolerant. I’ll turn off the drip system to the dead ones and take them out. So the only producing fruit trees left are four apple and one pear.

Spring Maintenance for Fruit Trees

Spring apple tree maintenance-pruned, well expanded and mulched, sprayed and watered.

Speaking of fruit trees, let’s talk about what else we should do besides pruning before the end of winter or at the beginning of spring.

-SPRAY DORMANT OR HORTICULTURAL OIL ON YOUR TREES NOWDid you ever notice the leaves curling up on some of the apricots or peach trees in the summer? This could be one of two things that cause it. The first one is peach leaf curl disease. It usually comes in wet springs-no problem here with that! We rarely have wet springs here in Santa Fe. The second one is aphid damage which is more likely here. This appears on the trees as curling or shriveling of the leaves in the summer. Aphids lay their eggs on the trunk and limbs and the eggs will hatch when it gets warmer this summer.  To kill the eggs, spray horticultural or dormant oil on the trunk, branches and buds (especially in the crooks where the branches join the trunk BEFORE the blossoms bloom). That basically means now. Spraying will also work on a multitude of other pests that overwinter on the trees. The oil works by smothering the eggs and is organic.

-CLEAN UP THE MULCH IN YOUR WELLSI usually pull aside the mulch that I put on the previous year but don’t get rid of it because you are going to…

-DIG YOUR WELLS OUT TO THE DRIP LINE.I know your tree is getting bigger but until it is full grown, it will really help when you water the well to get it out to the roots where it needs it

-INSPECT YOUR DRIP LINES TO TREESDrip lines are great for the trees for awhile especially while they are small. So turn on the drip line on a warm day and test it. Replace emitters that are clogged. Then add more emitters if your tree has grown during the past year.

-PUT YOUR MULCH BACK ON AND PUT MORE MULCH IN THE WELL (ABOUT 2 INCHES)
Don’t cover the base of the trunk. Trunks of trees don’t like to be buried so put the mulch up to it.

-WATER THAT NEW WELL-
Fill it up a few times each time you water. If we don’t get any substantial water this spring be sure you water more especially with our spring winds. Your trees will thank you.

-HANG UP YOUR CODDLING MOTH TRAPS ON YOUR APPLE TREES
Do this before the trees leaf out because fruit blossoms will follow (probably in March-just watch your trees).

Time to Trim Fruit Trees Now in February

If you haven’t trimmed your fruit trees yet you’re not alone. I haven’t done mine but plan on doing them by this weekend. You should trim soon before the buds swell or you’ll miss your opportunity this spring. Below is picture illustrating where to prune an apple tree.

Picture courtesy of http://www.weekendgardener.net

Last year I trimmed the fruit trees heavily so I shouldn’t have to trim too much this year. I just have to take off the water sprouts and small branches that have crossed and are touching in the interior. I didn’t get ANY fruit last year, not even an apple (and I always get those) because of the bitter cold winter we had.

Different winter this year-much warmer with little bits of snow. Not enough snow to quit watering once a month but certainly enough to help. Hell, any moisture helps out here. One more thing to check off my to-do list.

Fruit Tree Pruning

Unpruned apricot tree with lots of little branches everywhere

It’s just a little orchard I keep telling myself!  I know I’m a little late for pruning but need to prune my fruit trees before they leaf out (which luckily they haven’t yet).  Since I didn’t do them last year I feel compelled to do it this year. Trying to use my ‘how to prune a fruit tree’ skills.  I don’t want them to get out of control!

Pruned apricot tree

Here are pictures of an semi-dwarf apricot tree before and after I pruned it. It desperately needed pruning. Apricots are notorious for putting out lots of tiny branches everywhere so it is best to keep up on them.  Notice how many branches I cleaned out but still kept the basic shape. I also cut the suckers growing at the base of the tree. When pruning fruit trees, we need to consider what type of fruit tree we are pruning. Most fruit trees like apricots, peaches, pears and plums do better with an open vase shape where sunlight can enter into the center of the tree except for apple trees that do best with a central leader.

Prune at an outward growing branch

One thing for sure is don’t top off the tree limbs. That will encourage rampant growth on top. Instead look at where you are pruning the limb and clip the branch where a new branch will grow outward away from the center not into the center of the tree. It took me awhile to see where the proper place is to trim and I’ve not always done well in years past. Some mistakes I can’t rectify like one of my apple trees that I pruned years ago into the vase shape. Still it seems to produce well. Perhaps nature is more forgiving than we think..