Great discussion on pruning here! Thank you Alan and everyone else who has contributed their advice and experience.
I was wondering about something that I didn’t see covered yet (sorry if I missed it).
I have a few “weirdly” shaped/placed branches on my peaches:
August Pride and Mid Pride - both planted into the ground in May 2023 in a “2 for 1” planting about 2 ft apart)
And my 4-in-1 Pluot (Dapple Dandy, Flavor King, Flavor Supreme, Flavor Queen - tree in ground Sept 2022).
My question is - do folks have an opinion on whether it’s ok to keep some non-ideally placed/shaped branches just to get some fruit this year and then remove them during the summer or next winter as they continue to grow? Or is it better to sacrifice the fruit this year to make sure I have a more open center and keep shaping the tree into what it should get to.
As I wrote this Q out, I’m starting to guess that it’s the latter and that I shouldn’t really focus on fruit production too much yet. But would love to get any thoughts. Thanks!
The problem branches are not ones that aren’t well positioned to be permanent scaffolds, they can just be steered away from excessively crowding your permanents. The problem comes from having well positioned permanent scaffolds whose diameters are way out of balance and sometimes you have to remove branches entirely that are over half the diameter of the trunk at the point of their attachment to that trunk.
Excessive vigor of a branch can also be dialed down with repeated summer pruning of it to let the other permanent scaffolds catch up. It all depends on variety, species, rootstock, etc. However, for a beginner it may be the easiest course to simply remove all branches more than a third or half the diameter of the trunk, at least for the first few seasons of growth and training.
Did you read my article about pruning by numbers in the guides section?
When I first read the “pruning by numbers” piece I didn’t get it at all. But when the penny dropped -I had an “aha!” moment- it changed my pruning life. I can’t recommend it enough.
The basic concept of relative diameters in determining removal of branches guides me every day on every tree I prune. Crowding always occurs on vigorous trees and this goes a long way in helping to decide what to remove. And then there is the issue of borders, where each branch that remains commands a certain amount of territory based on its diameter. A few basic concepts and pretty soon you can develop confidant pruning skill.
It took my full-time helper only two years, half of which was pruning all day, to master the craft. It took me about 20. No wonder the industry has shifted to dwarfing rootstocks. Time and skill are expensive.
That makes sense but I think I’ll start getting it more as I try to implement some of the ideas from your article. Definitely read it and it was illuminating!
I will try to post some pictures of the specific tree I am talking about this weekend. It is the multi-grafted pluot I was referring to above. One of the main scaffolds in the “vase” (Flavor Queen if I recall correctly) is much stronger and more vigorous than all the rest. The whole thing is on Nemaguard rootstock. I’ve read about this being an issue with multi-grafted trees in general but seeing it live is a different thing … as you said in your later post, experience will come with time and practice.
I think these ideas hit home for me when watching a series of videos by seasoned educator on tall spindle high density orchard. Completely different setup that focuses on high production, but some ideas are the same.
He demonstrates how he selects the two largest branches, cuts them out, but leaves a stub cut that eventually grows into a new branch. He is constantly removing those large branches to keep the tree productive, the shape in check, and the fruit close to the trunk. While we might hesitate to remove the largest caliper branches, he addresses it easily.
While traditional pruning methods keep permanent branches, it was helpful to see how he selected the branches for removal. He also showed how he positions his loppers to get the right length cut.
I have one columnar tree on order and I’m wondering if some of his principles might apply. He also demonstrates how he ties two year old branches down for proper angles. He anchors the line to the trunk, a trellis wire or another branch and leaves it that way for 2-4 months. He uses this wires with shepherds crook ends to hold down smaller feathered branches.
I have a couple apple trees and pear trees that i need to encourage the start of scaffold branches on this year.
Right now (after pruning off most of last years branches… which were too low to keep, considering deer) they are just tall whips.
Novamac and Early Mc.
I did leave a few fruit spurs that developed on the main trunk last year… but other than that they are long tall whips (single stem going straight up).
Early Mc 7.5 ft tall… Novamac 9 ft tall.
I would like first whirl of scaffold branches to start at around 5-6 ft.
I understand that knotching above buds is the way to encourage scaffold branches to happen where you want them.
I have seen examples of knotching done with knife and hacksaw blade.
Do any of you pruning experts have some good tips on knotching (or anything else needed) to get those scaffold branches to develop where you want them ?
I will limb bend and summer prune once i get them going. I do not bend them below horizontal… at most flat or slightly above horizontal.
Notching works often. I do it both to encourage a new branch and to encourage grafts to take when I’m grafting to an established tree.
I cut a kerf with a pruning saw blade or my knife or even my nippers, although that’s clumsy. Just remove the bark right down to the wood and leave a gap of about 1/8" right above the bud. I make sure the gap overhangs the bud or branch by a fair amount -about as much overhang on each side as the bud or branch is wide.
So if the bud looks to be about 1/4" you’d take out a strip about 3/4" long. On a 1" diameter branch that you just grafted to you’d remove a 1/8" strip 3" long.
Spring 2023… i planted it in my orchard… and last season it grew several small limbs on the lower 4 ft of the tree… and the top shoot went another 5 ft straight up.
I pruned it recently and removed all those lower limbs… they were just too low on the tree. Deer would have those.
So now what I have left is a 9 ft tall straight up stick.
I would like first scaffold branches to develop on buds between 5 -7 ft height.
Yes, it’ll recover. Mind you’re only going to remove a strip of bark, no wood. And on a tree that small it would probably be prudent to keep the kerf on the skinny side, maybe closer to 1/16" than to 1/8". The bark will callous over in a season, but that’s long enough.
I will say that if you’re doing several notches at different points along the leader it makes sense to not stack them all right on top of one another! And the goal is just to interrupt the flow of auxin to the bud -if the length of the gash makes you nervous just follow your own gut and err on the side of caution.
Skillcult has a video exactly on training whips. He suggests picking a cluster of buds at you first desired scaffold height and then removing the buds for about 12" (I think) where you then save another cluster of buds and so on.
Incidently it’s worth noting that notching under a branch can have its uses too: reducing the flow of nutrients to a branch can encourage it to shift from being primarily vegetative to fruiting.
Scoring the branch is the more common method, I believe. When I’ve done it I’ve gone with half circles a short distance apart, one on the top side and one on the underside, of course.
I’m not expert on the reduction of growth of oversized branches, but sometimes I do cut them back instead of removing them. It seems that repeated summer pruning of such branches can bring them in line based on my careless observation. Also, it only makes sense. Repeated removal of growth during the growing season has to gradually subdue them although just doing it via dormant pruning does not.
Spreading them close to horizontal is also useful if they are excessively upright. I have a lot of trees in my nursery and the orchards I manage that have scarred branches from hinges I made to get them to a more horizontal position, especially grafts I made to water sprouts that eventually replaced the scaffolds the watersprouts started on or were close to.
Branches can also be brought below horizontal to slow their vigor, as long as the watersprouts this encourages are promptly removed. This will bring over-sized branches to dwarfing fruitfullness quickly.
That looks like it should do the job. It looks like the width of the strip that you removed in the second photo is a little wider than mine. You should see results within a few weeks as it warms up and growth gets serious.
If you ever get a chance, would love to see a picture of what you are describing here. I am trying to picture this but having a hard time figuring out how they are scarred and what a “hinge” is in this context.
… as you said in your later post, experience will come with time and practice.
