Pruning The Fruit Trees

For years now I have gotten grief from some neighbors about how I prune my fruit trees. I am not sure why they dislike how I prune them but for me it is VERY functional and I think they look beautiful. However, for every negative I get, I get two or more positives about how pretty my trees look all winter and spring.

Also, the way I prune them, I only have to prune once a year rather than twice.

I start in fall just before the leaves fall off the trees. I get out my six foot ladder. I get out my hedge clippers and my tree pruning clippers and for the first year or two, I took a saw with me. Because I have pruned them this way for so many years now, I don't need a saw as they have been "trained" to go the way I like and no branch gets big and strong except those I want.

Before starting, bleach your tools if they have been used on another tree. You can spread disease and pest from tree to tree using contaminated tools.

I start on the ground and look at the tree as if it were a big bowl. I start hacking down anything in the middle. If your tree is too thick, bees can't get into the middle to pollinate the blossoms so anything in the center of the tree is not functional and fruit is hard to see and to pick.

Any branch that is growing "into" the center of the tree gets, clipped or sawed off. Next, I stand on the ground and reach up to the highest part of the tree I could reach comfortably and mark that branch in my mind.

The reason I do this is that I want to be able to pick all my fruit without standing on a ladder. I enjoy just going out to the tree, reaching and picking. I don't want my fruit tree to grow tall, I want it to grow strong outward so that the branches reach out and I can pick all the fruit from the ground.

Next, get on the ladder. MAKE SURE IT IS ON LEVEL GROUND AND OPEN AND LOCKED. Have someone steady it if needed. No tree is worth your health. Then, go to the branch height that you marked off and start clipping using the electric shrub pruner. I stand on the ladder facing the tree and hold the pruner level with the ground but at the height I want to be the top of the tree. If there are branches that are thicker than the shrub pruner can handle, clip them with the clippers or saw them off. You can seal the end of the tree side of the prune with spray paint to keep out pests.

Once you are done leveling the top of the tree to the desired height, you can then start "training" the branches where you want them to go. I like them to go out where they are high enough that I can mow under them and low enough the fruit can be picked easily. To train them to go higher, cut off the new growth on the bottom of the branch. To train them to go lower, cut off the new growth on the top of the leaves.

I have friends that bought a house and the people just kept pruning the lower branches and her apple trees are so tall that you can't get apples without an extension ladder which mean most of the fruit drops and you spend hours picking it up. Also, the fruit can't be sprayed because it is so high. By pruning the tree short, the energy goes into the fruit making it sweet and larger than other trees that haven't been pruned.

In Europe, the trees are planted next to the house for lack of yard and so there are no branches on the front or back of the tree, just to the sides and they grow skinny and tall. You can make the tree do anything you want just by pruning. Take some time to research it online if you have a special need.

I never prune in the spring anymore as it seemed that the new buds were coming and I knocked them off as I pruned. I also had to fight with bees if there were any flowers on the trees. I used to have to prune a few times a year and this has taken care of that.

If I prune just before the leaves fall, I don't have to rake as many leaves. The trees look nice all year. I get compliments on my yard all winter as the trees maintain the prune through the winter months. If you wait too late in the fall after the leaves have fallen, it is more work and you risk the chance of the tree getting frost bite and killing the branches. So, I always make sure I prune before the leaves fall but after they turn brown.

I also prune my lilacs in a similar way. I don't want them growing tall as the leaves fill the gutters so I crop them off at the top as well but I don't want them to grow out to the sides so I keep them clipped on the sides and the back as I don't want them hitting the house. I just allow them to get thicker in the center area as a shade for the windows and privacy.

I have a bumper crop with great fruit every year. The pruning in the fall lets all the blossoms get pollinated.

Heres to a bumper crop!