Pruning Trees in the Orchard
Wintertime pruning continues at my Bedford, New York farm - this week, the orchard trees.
If you grow fruit trees, the best time to prune them is now - in winter - or in very early spring before any new growth begins. Pruning not only helps to develop proper shape and form, but also encourages new growth, promotes high fruit yield, and maintains good tree health. My gardener, Brian O'Kelly, has been busy pruning many of the apple trees, so they continue to produce bounties of delicious, juicy fruits.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Fresh fruit is one of nature’s most delicious products. I have an orchard around my pool filled with more than 200 different fruit trees.
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- While I have many fruit trees around the farm, this orchard contains an organized selection of apple trees, plum trees, cherry trees, peach, pear, medlar, and quince trees. Many were bare-root cuttings when they arrived and now they’re beautiful mature specimens.
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- These last few years have brought an abundance of fruit. We’ve had bounties of peaches – everyone here at the farm gets so excited for the peaches.
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- This past season, we also had plenty of pears. I planted many types of Asian pear, Pyrus pyrifolia, which is native to East Asia.
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- And of course, so many apples.
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- I already grow hundreds of apple trees here at the farm – some that were here when I acquired the property and others I planted soon after moving here. These orchard apple trees include Baldwin, Black Oxford, Cortland, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Esopus Spitzenburg, Fuji, Golden Russet, Grimes Golden, Honeycrisp, Liberty, Redfield, Roxbury Russet, Windham Russet, and more. This photo was taken in summer.
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- And this is the orchard now. The fruit trees are extremely healthy, in part because of all the care and maintenance that is done to keep them doing well. Here is a section of apple trees that need to be pruned.
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- One can see all the growth that has occurred in the last year.
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- The proper tools for this job include these trusted pruners. If you follow my blog regularly, you may have read my tool sharpening post yesterday. These Okatsune bypass pruners are very sharp and ready for work.
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- For slightly larger branches up to two-inches in diameter, Brian uses his STIHL bypass loppers.
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- Brian also brought out his pruning saw. A bow saw, or pruning saw, cuts on both the fore stroke and back stroke and is designed for cutting thicker branches.
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- I prefer much of the work be done by hand. Cutting by hand gives my trees a more natural appearance and shape.
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- Brian removes the water sprouts. Water sprouts are thin branches which normally grow straight up from lateral branches and do not bear fruit.
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- Dead branches, or those without any signs of new growth, are also cut, so the energy is directed to the branches with fruiting buds.
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- Tree fruit have two types of buds, terminal and lateral buds. Apples flower and fruit on terminal buds. A terminal, or apical bud, is located at the tip of a shoot. A lateral bud develops along the developing shoot at the base of the leaf blade.
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- Pruning cuts should be made fairly flush to the branch from which it grew. The idea is to leave slight stubs. By removing any more, the remaining branch has too much of an opening for disease to enter. Here, one can see where a cut was made.
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- Brian cuts branches that are rubbing or crisscrossing each other, preventing any healthy new growth. Basically, the goal is to create a tree with well spaced lateral branches. Any branches which interfere with the tree’s shape or create a dense framework should be removed.
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- And every so often he steps back to assess his work. A well pruned tree should have a balanced shape. I instruct the crew to cut about a third of the new growth.
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- One tip – prune with a tarp nearby for cut branches. After the branches are cut, they are gathered, neatly piled, and then either saved for kindling or processed through a wood chipper to make mulch.
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- Here, Brian removes crowded branches to help let in light and promote good air circulation. Brian is also mindful of the leader. A leader is the dominant trunk of a tree. He defines which one it is and creates a good shape around it.
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- And cuts should be clean – something that can only be done with good, sharp tools.
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- By late afternoon, many of the trees are done. This apple tree looks great after pruning. I am looking forward to many lustrous green trees heavy with fruits come summer. There are still a few more to go – keep up the good pruning, Brian.
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