   It's Fruit Tree Pruning Time - January 22, 2003 Jeff Schalau, County Director, Agent, Agriculture & Natural Resources Arizona Cooperative Extension, Yavapai County Pruning my fruit trees is something I look forward to each year. My trees are still young (three years in the ground from bareroot) enough to be easily pruned and I enjoy visualizing their future shape and production. Ten minutes per tree is all it takes at this age. It does get more time consuming after they get older. However, if you keep it up every year, the task is still fun and the work is not too grueling. It's impossible to completely describe the pruning process for at least two reasons. First, it is a very visual process and difficult to describe with words. Each tree has individual characteristics that make it difficult to generalize. Second, there are multiple approaches, most of which are valid and dependent on individual preferences. I'll provide more of inspirational/theoretical discussions in the remainder of the column, and then invite you to one of the workshop demonstrations that I have scheduled. There you can watch as we discuss the principles of fruit tree pruning. Pruning is critical to maintaining fruit tree vigor and training it to be the best possible shape. Winter pruning often causes a tree to respond vigorously, too vigorously, in cases where large quantities of material are removed. Conversely, summer pruning does not cause a drastic growth response. Summer pruning should be used to remove overly dense branches without causing excessive regrowth. Some fruit growers prefer trees that are trained to a central leader. This is most often used with apples and pears and entails simply thinning out side branches while leaving behind the proper number of side branches (scaffold branches). Open-center or vase shaped pruning removes the central leader at a very young age (right after planting) to create a tree that spreads outward from the trunk allowing light to penetrate and air to circulate. Open-center is often used for peaches, nectarines, plums, and apricots. It can also be used on apples and pears to keep the tree dwarfed and easier to harvest. Most apples and pears produce fruit on spurs: shortened twigs where flowers are produced. These spurs live from 5 to 12 years. Plums, apricots, and cherries produce fruit on shorter-lived spurs. Peaches and nectarines produce fruit predominantly on the previous year's wood. This is critical in planning a pruning approach. In general, peaches and nectarines should be pruned more aggressively than the others to produce the desired quantity and quality of current year's wood (next year's crop). The others should be pruned to control the number and age of fruit producing spurs. Large pruning cuts should be kept to a minimum. These cuts take longer to heal over and will often cause water sprouts to grow in that vicinity during the following growing season. Water sprouts are rapidly growing, vegetative material that utilize energy that could be going into fruit production. If you must make large cuts, do not use a pruning sealant or wound dressing. Simply allow the cut to callous over naturally. Finally, use only clean, sharp pruning tools. Soak the loppers and hand pruners in rubbing alcohol for 5 to 10 minutes between trees and especially after pruning diseased material out. If you would like to see a pruning demonstration, then come to one of my fruit tree pruning workshops. They are: 10 AM January 25 at 3375 Pawnee Trail in Chino Valley, 1 PM February 20 at 4050 Superstition Court in Prescott Valley, and 10 AM February 22 at 196 E. Tonto Drive in the Village of Oak Creek. Maps and directions are available on the Yavapai County Cooperative Extension web site: ag.arizona.edu/yavapai/. Hope to see you there. The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension has publications and information on gardening and pest control. If you have other gardening questions, call the Master Gardener line in the Cottonwood office at 646-9113 or E-mail us at mgardener@verdeonline.com and be sure to include your address and phone number. Find past Backyard Gardener columns or submit column ideas at the Backyard Gardener web site: http://ag.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/byg/. |