Pruning Fruit Trees

There is still time to prune fruit trees if you haven't done so already. Why is pruning fruit trees so important? Proper pruning improves the look and health of trees and improves the production of fruit. This post will focus on deciduous fruit trees. For information on citrus, see below*.

There are six key reasons to prune fruit trees:

• Control size for easier care in maintaining and picking fruit
• Increase strength – develop strong limb structure
• Distribute sunlight evenly throughout the tree
• Regulate fruit bearing – remove excess fruitwood
• Renew fruitwood – to continue strong buds and flowers
• Remove undesirable wood- dead, broken, and crossing branches

This article is on pruning 4–5-year-old established trees that are producing fruit. For information on training and pruning young trees or resurrecting neglected trees refer to the references at the end of this article. For best fruit production, fruit trees should be pruned every winter during their dormant season. January is the best month for pruning; you can prune as early as December and as late as mid-February, except apricots and cherries which should be pruned in summer.

How to prune?

Use the correct tools. For mature trees you should have hand-pruning shears, lopping shears with 24-to-30-inch handles and for larger, mature trees, a pruning saw with an 8-to-15-inch curved blade and wide set teeth. If your tree is mature and you cannot reach the top of the tree from the ground, you will also need an orchard (tripod) ladder. Folding and extension ladders are unsafe and not designed for unstable ground or tree work.

Two Types of Cuts

1. Thinning cuts are used to remove lateral branches at their origin or to shorten branch length by cutting to another lateral that is a minimum of 1/3 the width of the branch section being removed. Lateral cuts should be angled and done just outside of the branch bark ridge and branch collar. Cutting into the branch collar can damage the plant and cause decay.

2. Heading cuts are when a plant is cut back to a stub, lateral bud or small lateral branch. When heading back to a lateral bud or small lateral branch, the cut should be made at approximately a 45* angle away from the bud or branch and ¼ inch above it. Heading cuts may result in a flush of vigorous, upright growth. Note the three sets of three branches starting just below a heading cut.

The strongest growth goes to the terminal bud. When cut, the lateral bud becomes the terminal bud, and growth continues in that direction. You can use your pruning cuts to direct the growth of the tree, and to keep it short enough for easy picking of fruit.

 

 

Tips for proper pruning

1. Prune fruit trees when the leaves are off (dormant). It's easier to see what you are doing and removal of dormant buds (growing points) invigorates the remaining buds. Summer pruning removes leaves (where the plant's food is manufactured), will slow fruit ripening, and exposes fruit to sunburn. Summer pruning can be beneficial, however, when used to slow down overly vigorous trees or trees that are too large. It is usually done just after harvest.
2. When deciding which branch to cut and where to cut it, remember that topping a vertical branch encourages vegetative growth necessary for development of the tree and opens the tree to more sunlight. Topping horizontal branches is done to renew fruiting wood and to thin off excessive fruit. Horizontal branches left uncut will bear earlier and heavier crops.
3. Upright branches generally remain vegetative and vigorous. Horizontal branches generally are more fruitful. A good combination of the two is necessary, for fruiting now and in future years. Remove suckers, water sprouts and most competing branches growing straight up into the tree. Downward bending branches eventually lose vigor and produce only a few small fruit; cut off the part hanging down.
4. New growth occurs right where you make the cut; the cut only affects the buds within 1 to 8 inches of the cut surface not 3 to 4 feet down into the tree. The more buds removed, the more vigorous the new shoots will be.
5. Do most of the pruning in the top of the tree so that the lower branches are exposed to sunlight. Sun exposed wood remains fruitful and produces the largest fruit. Shaded branches eventually stop fruiting and will never produce without drastic topping and renewal of the entire tree.
6. Use spreaders or tie downs to get 45° angles branches of upright vigorous growing trees.

For peach and nectarine trees, remove 50% of last year's growth. For fig, apple, pear, plum and apricot, remove about 20% of last years' growth. For cherries and apricots, only prune in summer for the first 5 years.

Resources:

The California Backyard Orchard      https://homeorchard.ucanr.edu/The_Big_Picture/Pruning_&_Training/

California Master Gardener Handbook.          

Barbara Kissinger Santos has been a UC Master Gardener in Stanislaus County since 2024