Its a bit late but I need to prune my Che before bud break.
Its about 5yrs old, grafted and the tallest branches are about 12 ft tall. I’d like to keep it controlled.
It seems like the long branches are going to weep but not sure about it. Should I thin the amount of branches and then bring them down to about 6ft?
Thank you
Sorry not an answer but a question since you’ve got a nice looking che tree. Has it ever fruited for you and did you enjoy it? I’m days away from taking my 3 year old che out and replacing it with an apple tree.
Sorry no pruning tips… I have one but a late frost nearly killed it last year… it had a couple of buds just above the graft that did come back and grow.
Mine is about 3 ft tall now, single stem still… so no pruning expience with it yet.
Just wanted to say that yours is looking great. Good Luck on pruning it perfectly.
My guess would be take off the height necessary to keep it as low as you want it. It is your tree, make it do what you want. And you may need to thin out a bit, got LOTS of branches in there…
With my other fruit trees… I generally always take off any limbs that are going mostly straight up, or down, or crossing other limbs (one has to go)… and if it is supposed to be trained open center… I take out any branches that are heading back towards the center… and of couse any dead or diseased limbs.
But those are just guesses based on how I normally prune others…
TNHunter
Hi, it did fruit and hold them till ripe for the first time last year. But those were on the Norris branches I grafted on to it. They took a long time to ripen and I missed getting to the ripe fruit. By the time I got to them there were beyond ripe and dry. They did have seeds. I have a male plant near by but did not see any flowers. Curious to see what this year brings.
Thank you! I need to hurry up and prune. They are just about to bud. Been busy and did not get to the task. It really took off in last year and I need to try and keep it controlled. They look nice in the fall with the yellow leaves.
Your tree looks great!
In your shoes I would look at those 2 branches which seem to be going off to the left almost parallel. I would remove the closer of the two. I would also reduce the overall height of the tree, almost topping it at a comfortable height minus about 6 inches.
Mine here in Mi is about 15 feet tall and seems to have reached a stable height (it really isn’t pushing growth much higher at this point).
Are those figs to the left of the Che?
Scott
Thank you Chills. Did the pruning. I ended up thinning a few of the larger almost vertical long branches and shortened them as you mentioned. They are probably 6ft now.
Yes, its a Fig, Osborne Prolific. I’m afraid it is dead above ground due to the big chill we had here in Texas a few weeks ago.
