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, blossoms, and crops.

Inexperienced gardeners are often afraid of pruning. However, it's not as difficult as people sometimes think - with good instructions, anyone can manage it! Trees also have great vitality and regenerative ability, so they will forgive you even if you make a mistake.

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 pruning saw or large shears with leverage. If branches are out of reach, telescopic shears or a saw can be used.

After cutting a branch, it's necessary to treat the wound. We can use a knife for smoothing, and pruning 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 trees being pruned. Especially viral pathogens and bacteria 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, the disease may be dormant and waiting for its opportunity.

Types of Pruning

Planting Pruning

For young trees, it's vital to establish a root system and crown foundation as soon as possible. Therefore, during planting we intervene minimally with the roots - we only remove dead roots and shorten excessively long ones, which encourages desirable branching and root hair formation. We also keep the branches, removing only dried and overly fine, overcrowded shoots; damaged ones are only shortened.

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 the main and lateral shoots, removing only crossing branches. The terminal shoot should exceed the others by 10-15 cm.

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

Maintenance Pruning

This pruning is carried out annually after completing the training pruning. 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 the following year the setting of flowers and fruits will be significantly suppressed - 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, in which case there is a high risk of death or pathogen infection. Even in 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, create shade, or cross 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 in various conditions and altitudes.

The trees are relatively undemanding and disease-resistant. 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 perform 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 - a terminal (main) shoot with four lateral shoots that will form the basis of the scaffold branches (they should point 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 extends about 10-15 cm above them.

In subsequent years, we perform training pruning to shape the crown. The goal is to develop strong main branches, with each producing three secondary branches. With each pruning, we remove all shoots growing inward toward the crown.

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

In subsequent years, during maintenance pruning, we cut back all side branches longer than 30 cm by a quarter, while also removing shoots growing too densely or inward. For pears, we also annually remove lateral shoots, so-called water sprouts, which are a consequence of frost damage to the tree. Pome fruits, pears in particular, tolerate even deep rejuvenation pruning well.

Peaches

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

The usual form is an open vase crown, meaning cultivation without a main (terminal) shoot. This ensures good light penetration and quick drying of leaves and fruits.

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

The appropriate time for pruning peaches is from the beginning of their budding until after flowering.

When planting, we strongly cut back the annual shoots; the next pruning is carried out the following year. We remove the main shoot and leave only 3-4 of the strongest lateral shoots. In subsequent years, we continue shaping the vase crown while performing deep maintenance pruning, which ensures abundant fruiting on one-year-old shoots. We regularly pinch back these shoots so that fruits form on stronger branches.

Apricots

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

Just as with peaches, we can also grow apricots with an open vase crown. However, this is not necessary; apricots will grow well even with a classic crown with a central shoot. We can also grow them as dwarf trees, just like peaches.

When growing an open vase crown, we proceed the same way as with peaches; when growing an open crown, as with pome fruits. During the growing season, it is also advisable to pinch back annual shoots, otherwise fruits will form at the ends of long thin shoots that can bend and break.

We prefer to avoid deeper rejuvenation pruning with apricots.

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