Fruit Tree Pruning Steps

Today’s Newsletter Podcast features Ann Ralph, author of the book, “Grow a Little Fruit Tree”.

Fruit Tree Pruning, Step by Step

Last Friday’s Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, Episode 351 - “Honey I Shrunk the Fruit Trees” also dealt with the benefits of keeping the height of fruit trees to no taller than you can reach to the top of the tree to pick fruit. Because, who wants to fall off a ladder?

UC Cooperative Extension Communications Specialist - and Consulting Arborist - Kevin Marini walked us through the steps of keeping your fruit trees healthy, and at a reasonable height (listen to the episode for his tree reduction tips).

Among our topics:

• Maintaining the height of fruit trees at a manageable level allows for easier fruit harvesting and reduces the risk of broken branches.

• Thinning fruit trees is necessary to remove crowded fruit and allow the tree to breathe, resulting in bigger and juicier fruit.

• Bringing down the height of a fruit tree can be done gradually over a few years to avoid stressing the tree.

• Using the right pruning cuts, such as reduction cuts and thinning cuts, helps maintain the structure of the tree and promotes better fruit production.

• Cutting newly planted fruit trees at the knees stimulates the growth of lower branches and makes fruit more accessible.

• Rootstock selection is important for controlling the height and spread of fruit trees.

• Thinning cuts are essential for improving air circulation within the tree and ensuring fruit production in lower areas of the branches. Pruning suckers and water sprouts is essential to maintain the structure of fruit trees.

• Removing branches that grow towards the center of the tree helps prevent overcrowding and disease.

• Cutting dead, dying, and diseased branches is important to maintain the overall health of the tree.

• Proper pruning cuts, including the three-cut method for larger branches, help prevent damage and decay.

• Using sharp pruning tools and cleaning them regularly improves the efficiency and effectiveness of pruning.

You can listen to our complete conversation here.

And one more pruning term, according to the U. Of Florida: Reduction Cut

A reduction cut (also referred to as a drop-crotch cut) shortens a branch by removing a stem back to a lateral branch that is large enough to resist extensive disfunction and decay behind the cut. This is generally interpreted as cutting back to a lateral branch that is at least one-third the diameter of the cut stem. Sprouts commonly follow a reduction cut. In most cases these should not be removed because they help the retained portion of the branch retard decay. When the branch that remains is less than about one-third the diameter of the cut stem, the cut is considered a heading cut. Heading cuts are not considered appropriate in most instances in the landscape. Heading cuts are sometimes necessary when attempting to restore trees following storm damage.

Kevin Marini’s Steps for Pruning Your Fruit Trees For Better Health

From the Ep. 351 podcast transcript:

Farmer Fred

Kevin, you mentioned there are some steps, like four or five steps, when it comes to reducing the height of a fruit tree?

Kevin Marini  35:28

Yeah, well, let's start with  one that maybe doesn't reduce the height, but it's the easiest step. And everyone could do this any time of year. And they don't even have to be very careful about where they make the cut. And that is the suckers.

Because fruit trees are grafted on to a root stock, you get suckers that grow up from the ground from the root stock. Believe it or not, this can be a big problem. Because if you let those suckers continue to grow, they can eventually convince you that they're part of your fruit tree until you actually see this weird looking fruit on them. And you realize, Wait, what's that all about? Prune out those suckers. Step number one, go out to your fruit tree anytime during the year. If they're shooting from the ground, obviously, from the root stock below the graft union, cut them out, do not let them take over your tree. So that's easy. Step number one.

Farmer Fred  36:21

Yeah,  let's define that. First. For people who are trying to find the bud union, if a tree was planted properly, that's going to be like a little lump or a little bump that should be just a few inches above the surface of the soil. And so anything that is emanating from below that point, can be removed completely and safely.

Kevin Marini  36:39

Yes, I'm actually glad you drilled down on that a little bit, because one thing that I have encountered quite a bit is that people bury the graft union. So they buy their fruit tree in a container. And the graft union is above the soil line when they bring it home. But when they pop it out of the container and put it into the ground, many times they'd bury it too deep. And if that graft union is subsurface, if it's underneath the ground, it can absolutely quickly rot. And then you can lose your fruit tree in a nice stiff wind down the road. That's super important, The graft has to be above ground. It has to be daylighted. You really have to take care of that, right? Ideally, you don't want it facing west, where the afternoon sun is hammering it, you kind of want it facing the other way. It's not a deal break