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Winter is best time to prune fruit trees
Missouri
At times, people plant fruit trees in their yard or field and then neglect them for years.
"Neglect can cause a fruit tree to become damaged and diseased and require a lot of corrective work," said John Hobbs, agriculture and rural development specialist, University Outreach and Extension.
Hobbs recommends starting corrective practices by studying the tree to determine what problems exist.
"One of the first things to do is to remove all sucker growth around the base of the trunk around the base of the main trunk," Hobbs said.
The second step is to remove outer branches if they hang so low they make walking beneath the tree difficult.
"Apples and crab apples often contain very upright shoots off major horizontal branches. These are called water sprouts and should be removed in the pruning process," Hobbs said.
Scaffold branches are the main structural branches that develop off the main trunk. In older, neglected trees there may be many of these. It is best to allow only three to five of these main branches (on different sides of the tree) to remain and form this scaffold.
In selecting scaffold branches, also remove major branches that are crowded, growing somewhat vertical or developing close together in the canopy.
"One the goals of pruning is to allow more light to penetrate into the center of the tree, which improves the fruit ripening and coloring. It also makes pest control easier," Hobbs said.
Another aspect of pruning a neglected tree is height reduction. Cut tall upper branches back to lower, outward facing shoots on branches that have more horizontal growth.
"Fruit production is actually greater on horizontal branches. Plus, lowering overall height makes harvest easier," Hobbs said.
Peach trees produce fruit on one-year old wood. On neglected peach trees, prune most of the top of the tree and the ends of the scaffolds. Peaches may be pruned as much as one-half of the total wood each year after the main corrective pruning is done.
Pears on the other hand, require less pruning and should not have more than one-tenth of their wood removed at any one time. Plums also require a light annual pruning. Cherry trees mainly need light pruning.
"Sometimes heavy pruning is necessary on neglected trees but that can result in reduced fruit production for one or two years afterward. In the long run healthy trees will recover and become heavy producers," Hobbs said.
University of Missouri Outreach and Extension improves people's lives with education and research from the four campuses of the University of Missouri System and Lincoln University. All Extension programs focus on the identified high-priority needs of people throughout the state. Each county Extension center, with oversight by locally elected and appointed citizens, is your local link to these unbiased resources and programs.
Date: 3/16/04
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