Hi i'v got 3 dual fruit trees they are apple (sunset & golden delicious)
pear (conferene & louise bonne de jerey)
plum (cambridge gage greengate & marjone's seeeding)
i would like some advice please how and when to prune then
many thanks jj
Oh dear...where to start...
well ..what kind of tree shape are you after? Eg. do you want to grow them any special way...step over, fan (any restricted way) or just basic "tree" shape...
Do you know what rootstock you trees are crafted in?
How old and big are they...and when did you planted them?
Once we know basics it is a bit easier to help as there is whole books writen about pruning :)
...Oh don't panic..it is not as complicated as it all ready sounds...
Don't even bother. Unless the branches are criss crossing or it is hanging over an area in the wrong place. Just let it do it's own thing.
More trees have been damaged, even ruined by some armature chopping it around in the wrong place. Some people mistakenly believe that fruit trees HAVE to be pruned. May be an Orchard owner will get an exceptional harvest with professional tree grooming but then he wont have dual fruit trees in his orchard either.
Leave it. Just trim off bits that are certainly dead or growing in the wrong place if you need to.
hi goodlife don't no what rootstock they are.
they are about 1.8m and about 11/2 years old.
would like a fan shape ;D but what's a step over fan ??? ???
Hi Purpleheather that sounds to easy,but when do i prune them
jj
Quote from: PurpleHeather on March 27, 2010, 20:01:43
Don't even bother. Unless the branches are criss crossing or it is hanging over an area in the wrong place. Just let it do it's own thing.
Yep...she could do that...but.. if I would not have many trees, I definately would like to have best out of them and with just few trees it is not that much to ask. You get better quality fruit , tree is less likely to have health problems and with little care they live and crop longer.. ;)..just like us ;D
I'll write another message about pruning...
Ok...
Sounds like your trees shape is set so we consentrate just for basics...
Apples: Anytime after leaf fall/winter cut the new growth back by 1/3 , each year and cut out any damaged or deseased bits.
Pears: More and less same as apples...they tend to need pruning more later on their life than apples.
Plums: do not need pruning other than for shape...less pruning the better...
spring pruning(March to April) if neglected tree needs renovation or it has too much whippy non fruiting growth .
new/ young plum trees; after fruiting or when there is no fruit in late July, cut new shoots growing directly from the main stem back to 3-4 leaves.
All the remaining current season's shoots should be stopped once they have made 6 leaves...all this so that you create lots of fruiting spurs...continue....
....plums; once your trees start cropping well=plenty of fruiting spurs less pruning you need to do anymore...
Never ever prune plums during winter as there is danger that you may introduce Silver Leaf desease to open wounds..
Phew...that's about it...there is lots and lots of fine tuning to learn... if you want to go further to it..
but then I recommend to buy a book ;)