Good Care Of Your Fruit Trees 🥰
Pruning
Fruit trees are best pruned once a year to ensure a good cycle of fruiting wood. Fruit trees that are not pruned will end up less productive and congested with old branches, leading to disease.
Tools to use ✂️
Be sure to use clean and sharp tools when pruning your fruit trees (be careful!).
Sharp tools ensure a nice clean cut, reducing the risk of disease following the prune.
Use secateurs for the smaller growth and loppers or a pruning saw for the bigger growth/branches.
When to prune fruit trees? 📅
Fruit tree pruning is mostly carried out in winter, spring or summer.
Time spent learning how to care for the trees in your own garden is well spent. Make a calendar note of when they need your attention. You can use something like the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) app "My Garden" to remind you when to care for your trees.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/my-garden
Your fruit tree will need one of the following 👇🏼
Winter pruning ❄️
Mostly for apples, pears and quince, winter pruning encourages vigorous growth.
Prune in winter if you want new shoots, and more flowers/fruits.
In the winter the leaves have fallen, which gives you a chance to see the shape of your tree.
Spring and summer pruning ☀️
Mostly for stone fruits or if your tree is too large, and you don’t want to encourage growth.
Good for trained apples and pears.
It doesn’t trigger the tree into producing a lot of new growth so it's best for trees you aim to keep small/dwarf trees.
Spring and summer pruning is carried out after the tree has started to develop fruits, you are best to avoid cutting the branches with fruits on.
Autumn pruning 🍂
It’s often best to avoid autumn pruning as this can start new growth when the tree is getting ready to go into dormancy.
Apples, Pears & Quinces (pome fruits)
When: November to early March.
Generally the pruning of apples, pears and quince are best carried out during the winter. Quince fruits are produced on the new season’s growth so pruning in the winter can be used to promote new shoots and therefore a better fruit crop.
You can also prune overgrown apples and pears in summer to help get them under control.
Further info on pruning apple trees 👇🏼
https://www.gardenfocused.co.uk/fruitarticles/apples/prune.php
https://www.theorchardproject.org.uk/guides_and_advice/pruning-apple-trees/
The difference between pruning an apple and a pear 👇🏼
https://www.gardenfocused.co.uk/fruitarticles/pears/prune.php
Plums, cherries, peaches and apricots (stone fruits)
When: Spring/Summer, before or after flowering.
Pruning of stone fruit trees in the summer encourages production.
They are all from the genus Prunus and are best pruned in the summer which encourages them to produce higher fruit crops and prevents the trees becoming too big.
Further info on pruning cherry trees 👇🏼
https://www.gardenfocused.co.uk/fruitarticles/cherry/prune-care.php
Further info on pruning plum trees 👇🏼
https://www.gardenfocused.co.uk/fruitarticles/plums/prune-care.php
https://www.gardenfocused.co.uk/fruitarticles/plums/prune-old.php
