![]() This neglect results in poor growth and delayed fruiting. Too often, backyard growers plant apple and pear trees and leave them untended for several years. The day you plant your trees is the day you should begin to prune and train for future production. Response of trees to different heading heights: (A) the cut is too low (B) the cut is at the proper height of 20 inches and (C) the cut is too high. Pruning and Training to a Central Leaderįigure 4.3. Burning or burying the prunings is the best practice. Dead wood will harbor disease organisms that can spread back into the tree. Remove pruned brush from the orchard area. ![]() Heading-back cutting (shortening the ends of branches) encourages shoot growth. Thinning-out cutting (removing an entire limb or shoot) is associated with increased apple flower bud production. Remove sucker growth from the interior of the tree and around the base of the trunk annually. Be sure to remove all dead and broken limbs when you prune. Prune young trees (up to 10 years of age) lightly. Note the increase in vigor and reduction in fruiting wood the more severe the cut. The image above illustrates the growth that occurs when a dormant shoot (A) is not headed, (B) is headed one-third of its length (C) is headed two-thirds of its length, or (D) is headed to remove all of the previous year's growth. Thinning cuts do not induce excessive vigorous regrowth and open the tree's canopy to allow more sunlight into the interior. A thinning cut is the removal of an entire shoot back to its point of origin. Heading cuts result in a thicker and denser canopy and reduce light levels within the tree. The number of shoots that develop and the vigor of the growth will depend on the severity of the heading cut. A heading cut results in several shoots developing just below the location of the cut. Heading cuts remove the terminal buds that normally inhibit shoot development from buds below the terminal or end of the shoot. This type of cut involves shortening a limb or shoot by removing a portion off the end. Regardless of the type of tree you are pruning, there are only two types of pruning cuts. Older trees (25 years and older) will produce higher-quality fruit following a vigorous pruning. Excessive pruning encourages excessive shoot growth and reduces the quality of fruit on young trees.
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