How to Prune Fruit Trees

Fruit trees are essential in any garden. Besides providing fruit, they also offer shade and look beautiful when in bloom. To ensure regular and abundant harvests, proper care is essential - watering, fertilizing, pruning, and treating when necessary. In return for our care, they reward us with healthy growth, flowers, and fruit.

Inexperienced gardeners are often afraid of pruning. However, it's not as difficult as people sometimes think - with good instructions, anyone can master it! Trees also have great vitality and regenerative capacity, so they will forgive even potential mistakes.

Tools are the foundation

For pruning trees, we always use sharp, clean tools. Small gardening shears are sufficient for smaller branches, while for thicker branches we use a garden saw or large shears with a gear mechanism. If branches are out of reach, telescopic shears or a saw can be used.

After cutting a branch, the wound must be treated. We can use a knife for smoothing, and grafting wax or balm for sealing the wound. Its application supports wound healing and prevents the entry of infection and parasites.

Always clean and disinfect tools after use, as there is a risk of transmitting diseases to other pruned trees. Viral pathogens and bacteria in particular often spread this way.

If you plan to prune multiple trees, we recommend disinfecting tools after treating each individual tree. Even if a plant doesn't look infected, disease may be lurking inside, waiting for its opportunity.

Types of pruning

Planting pruning

For young trees, it's vital to establish a root system and crown foundation as quickly as possible. Therefore, during planting, we interfere with roots minimally - we only remove dead roots and shorten excessively long ones, which encourages desirable branching and formation of root hairs. Branches are also retained; we only remove dried and excessively thin, overcrowded shoots, and simply shorten damaged ones.

Training pruning

Training pruning is performed in the second year after planting. The goal of training pruning is to give the tree crown the desired cultivation shape, which may vary depending on the species.

During training pruning, we shorten main and side shoots, removing only crossing branches. The terminal shoot should exceed the others by 10-15 cm.

Training pruning is performed several years in succession (approximately 3-5 years) until the crown has the desired shape.

Maintenance pruning

This pruning is carried out annually after the training pruning is completed. Its purpose is to thin out the crown and regulate fruit production. Weak and excess shoots are removed, fruit-bearing wood is renewed, and the number of flower buds is regulated. If too many buds remain, the tree will be weakened, the fruits will be smaller and less tasty, and next year's flower and fruit set will be significantly reduced - the so-called alternate bearing.

Rejuvenation Pruning

This is carried out on neglected and aging trees. It involves deep to very deep pruning - cutting into five to twenty-year-old wood. The aim is to restore the tree's vitality and fruit production, while extending its lifespan by approximately five years. Due to the significant weakening of the tree after pruning, it is not suitable for weak and very old trees, as there is a high risk of death or pathogen attack. Even with a healthy tree, the restoration of vitality takes approximately two to four years.

During rejuvenation pruning, all branches are significantly shortened, by half or more, and part of the crown is usually completely removed. All shoots that overcrowd the crown, shade it, or cross each other should be removed.

Always cut just above a bud at an angle of 30 - 45 degrees to avoid damaging the bud.

Apple and Pear Trees

Pome fruits are among the most commonly grown fruit trees in our region. There are many cultivars that ensure abundant fruit production under various conditions and altitudes.

The trees are relatively undemanding and resistant to diseases. Nevertheless, they require annual pruning to ensure large and tasty fruits.

Pome fruits are pruned during the dormant period, from February until the beginning of budding in March. If we plant a tree in spring, we carry out the first pruning immediately; if in autumn, we wait until late winter to prune the shoots.

During the first pruning after planting, we select the foundation of the future crown - the terminal (main) shoot with four lateral shoots that will form the basis of the scaffold branches (they should extend outward from the terminal shoot). We remove the remaining shoots and shorten the retained ones to approximately 4-6 buds, so that the lateral branches end at the same level and the terminal shoot exceeds them by about 10 - 15 cm.

In subsequent years, we carry out training pruning to shape the crown. The aim is to develop strong main branches, with each producing three secondary branches. During each pruning, we remove all shoots growing inward into the crown.

During training pruning, we shorten annual growth by approximately half; if the shoots are stronger, it is sufficient to shorten them by one-third of their length.

In subsequent years, during maintenance pruning, we shorten all fruiting branches longer than 30 cm by a quarter, while also removing shoots that grow too densely or inward. For pear trees, we also annually remove lateral growths, so-called water sprouts, which are a result of frost damage to the tree. Pome fruits, pear trees in particular, tolerate deep rejuvenation pruning very well.

Peach Trees

Peach trees need plenty of light for successful growth and fruiting, which is why their crown is shaped somewhat differently than most trees.

The usual shape is a vase-shaped crown, meaning cultivation without a main (terminal) leader. This ensures good light penetration and quick drying of leaves and fruits.

Peach trees can also be grown as dwarf trees. Such trees are easier to care for, require less space, and fruit is easily harvested from them. On the other hand, they tend to have a shorter lifespan.

The suitable time for pruning peach trees is from the beginning of their budding until after flowering.

When planting, we severely shorten the shoots; the next pruning is done the following year. We remove the main leader and leave only 3-4 of the strongest lateral shoots. In subsequent years, we continue shaping the vase-shaped crown while performing deep maintenance pruning, which ensures abundant fruiting on one-year-old shoots. We continuously pinch these shoots so that fruits form on stronger branches.

Apricot Trees

We approach apricot pruning during the growing season, otherwise there is a risk of frost damage to the plant. Spring pruning is done at the beginning of tree flowering, or just after flowering (this option is chosen for the sake of bees).

Just as with peach trees, we can also grow apricots with a vase-shaped crown. However, this is not necessary; apricots will grow well even with a classic crown with a central leader. Like peaches, they can also be grown as dwarf trees.

When growing a vase-shaped crown, we proceed the same way as with peach trees; when growing an open crown, we follow the approach for pome fruits. During vegetation, it is also advisable to pinch the shoots, otherwise the fruits will form at the ends of long thin shoots, which may bend and break.

We prefer to avoid deep rejuvenation pruning for apricot trees.

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