Top 5 Mistakes When Pruning Fruit Trees On A Lot That Can Ruin Your Luxurious Garden

I notice that many summer residents, including my own mother, refuse to prune fruit trees and, in general, all plantings. Their opinion that everything should be natural does not always justify itself.

It is good when special varieties are planted in which suitable growth is already genetically laid.

But in most cases, correct pruning will produce strong growth and good yields. The main thing is not to make gross mistakes.

1. The mistake, which I still cannot forgive myself, cost us all the plums in the garden. A couple of old overgrown trees needed rejuvenation, we decided to saw down large branches in the spring, planning that small branches will grow.

It would have happened, but I did not handle the cuts well. The trees just blew gum and died. So, large cuts must be processed with garden varnish or other means.

When the cut dries up, and this happens in a day, var or garden paint is applied.

2. Fruit trees need to form a crown not for beauty, but for strength. There is no point in bunches of shoots, such branches bind the entire crop against each other at the slightest wind, and the density of the leaves does not let the sun go deep into the crown.

It is necessary to ensure that after pruning brooms do not form from the shoots, the weakest must be cut out without pity. Especially carefully cut out those that stretch straight up or inward.

The branches growing vertically will eventually begin to break the tree in half under their own weight, to which the weight of the crop will be added.

3. The branch needs three years to wait for fruit. Flower buds are laid on biennial shoots. It would be a big mistake to cut off all the thin branches that did not have time to bloom.

They, of course, will give a broom of young shoots at the ends, but the harvest will have to wait another three years.

4. When pruning tree branches, it is important to cut them as close to the base as possible, without stumps.

In this case, the tree will tighten the cut area with its own bark, and decay of the wood will be avoided.

Otherwise, bark beetles and other pests begin to settle in the rotting dust, and the tree will eventually die.

5. The timing of pruning should be in early spring, when the juices have not yet moved, 15-20 days remain before the buds swell.

If the juices have already moved, the sections do not have time to dry out, the current juice will lure all insects and become a breeding ground for microorganisms.

An exception - accidental damage, scrapping or detected disease. In this case, you can cut off the branch, leaving the stump longer so that the damage from the saw cut, as a lesser evil, could not reach the tree itself. This stump can be cut later according to the rules.

Pruning is not scary, the main thing is to figure out how the tree grows, cut off the excess with a sharp, clean tool, without lifting the bark, and a good harvest will not go anywhere.