Last week I finally got something off my to-do list – pruning our fruit orchard! I’m still getting the hang of it but definitely making progress. Perhaps you feel the same.
Our fruit orchard is in various stages of growth. We originally planted the variety of trees about 15 years ago, but not every tree thrived and lived. (This was well before I was interested in tending to gardens, let alone trees – I was keeping up with two little kids at the time.) Unfortunately, some trees got diseased and we had to cut them down, others did fine. Because of this, some trees are 15 years old, five years old others I just planted last year.
We have a variety of fruit tress in the orchard: apples, peaches, pears, apricots, nectarines, and cherry. When planning the orchard, I took the time to note when the tree is to be ripe for picking and planted accordingly, so the ones closest to the house would ripen the earliest and further away they would ripen later. Having planned that, we really have not gotten much in the way of fruitage. We did get a lot of nectarines last year, which was amazing. Last year was the first year that I ever sprayed my trees and that made a huge difference. I noticed with spraying there were far less bugs, the tree itself had more leaves and they looked healthier overall.
I did learn that I had cut off a lot of the branches that would have fruited later that year – especially the peaches. This year, now that the trees are healthier and I’ve learned through experience, I did not cut off the branches that are going to fruit this year.
So how does one prune fruit trees? What I’ve gathered is there three different ways to shape a tree – there is a central leader, a modified central leader or a vase/open center shape. I have decided to go with the vase or open center shape.
When pruning I always start with the 3-D’s: dead, diseased, or damaged. If you see any of this on a branch, immediately cut those out. Dead branches stop airflow into the center of the tree and you may lose production. You don’t want a diseased branch to turn into a diseased tree. Anything damaged will eventually become diseased and an issue so just prune it off right away.
Next, I cut out any crossing branches. If I’m noticing trees that have limbs that are rubbing, I decide which one to cut. Anything that’s crossing will eventually rub and cause damage which could become diseased. If there’s any branches that are growing back to the center of the tree, cut that too. This will help increase airflow and get more light into the tree to help with production.
Finally, I take a step back and look at the overall shape of the tree. This is when knowing which pruning shape you want will come in handy (central leader, double leader or open center) for your next set of cuts. Here you want to make your shaping cuts keeping in mind how much you’ve already trimmed out of the tree. Sometimes shaping cuts are better done the following year if you’ve already cut out a significant portion of the tree.
Those are the basic steps to pruning an orchard.
I use those steps on all the trees in the orchard and I think it turned out well. I did lower the canopy on the peach trees significantly; because of this I know that peach production will be less this year.
Next steps in the orchard, when I have a decent day, is to spray them with horticultural oil and a copper fungicide. Both of those are organic and will help with the overall health of the tree. When I get around to tackling that job, I will make sure to post those details as well.
Happy Gardening!
Here is a list of the tools I used to prune the orchard:
(affiliate links below)
- Corona Comfort Gel Bypass Hand Pruner 3/4″
- Corona Razor Tooth Saw
- Corona Compound Action Bypass Lopper with Extendable Handles
- Milwaukee Saw Pruning Cordless 12V (not pictured)
- Fiskars Kangaroo Collapsible Garden Bag with Hardshell Bottom (not pictured)
