I’d like to hear opinions on how much spring and summer pruning is acceptable. Pretty much everything I read says pruning should be done drring dormancy with a few excetions that you probably know. But I do quite a bit of it myself and it “feels” like I’m doing the right thing for my trees. I don’t do any major cuts or anything, but when I see a limb that is obviously growing in the wrong direction and that I know will eventually have to go, I just go ahead and take it out. For example, on my open center peach trees, when I see a limb that pops up “inside the vase” and is growing back toward the center, I pinch it off, or if it has gotten a foot or so long I’ll clip it with pruners. My (perhaps misguided) logic is: Why let a tree waste resources to grow a limb that I know for certain I’m eventually going to have to remove. Why not just “nip it in the bud”? I suspect you all will say its no big deal to nip an errant growth now and then, but I often go around the whole inside of a peach tree and remove anything gowing in or toward the center, and if I miss a week or two then I need to cut a pretty substantial amount (though each one is about 1 foot or less). I do the same on all my open center trees-and that is most trees. What say you all? It “feels” like its a good way to prevent my trees from wasting resources on a limb that is going to have to be cut someday anyway. Also, by cutting them now the tree can use the energy that was going into those wrong-growing branches (and waterspouts, by the way) and apply it to fruit and/or good scaffolds. However, I also wonder if the leaves on the branches I’m cutting are adding more energy to the overall tree than I’m saving by removing them? Via photosynthesis, I know all leaves convert sun light/energy to tree energy, so maybe even though I’ll cut them off later, they are contributing to the overall tree more than what is lost when I cut them off???
I know I made this a little complicated, but hopefully you will understand my question/concern. And I have seen others with questions about summer pruning, so maybe this will help others. thanks
kevin
I’m no expert, but I remember some advice from some knowledgeable person on Gardenweb (who is probably a member here now) that said, “the best time for pruning is when I’m in the orchard with pruners”. The implication was that he pruned pretty much year round and whenever a tree needed it. I’m guessing that a heavy pruning job right before the tree went dormant isn’t a great idea because the wounds won’t have time to heal, but other than that, do it when it’s convent. That was my take away, anyhow.
I might have said that, I am constantly pruning. There is the errant limb missed in dormant pruning, the spouts that need to be rubbed, spots that are clearly getting too dense and need more thinning, etc etc. I always have pruners on my waist when in the orchard so it is second nature.
On top of this there are also things needing summer pruning for size control. These days its mainly kiwis I summer prune, but I used to summer prune most of my fruits. Once trees start bearing there is less of a need for regular summer pruning, at least in my orchard. Peaches I may summer prune when too many shoots up top shade out ripening fruit.
I do the same thing with my peaches too. You want to keep the
center of the tree open, in order for sunlight to penetrate the inside
of the tree. Sunlight helps to sweeten the fruit.
I find it handy to remember a little point someone made to me a few years ago when I had that question, and the main point is that all pruning is ultimately dwarfing -but summer pruning is the better for control of size, and dormant pruning is the better for control of structure.
So in January go ahead and take out that branch you decided was too crowding (and of course, any diseased and crossing wood) but in May-June manage your leafiness to encourage spurring. Thin to control bushiness all through the summer, as this opens up the tree and reduces the carbohydrates the tree can store for next year’s growth. Big cuts in winter, small cuts in summer -more or less!`
Disclaimer: I’m following this as my own guide, but I’m hoping for discussion on the matter. Pruning questions are all still open for me.
Good question. I’ve felt the same way.
I’ve read that a water sprout should be ‘headed’ at 12-14" to encourage fruiting wood - which is done in the summer.
High density orchards get summer prune sometimes twice for the purpose of (1) reducing shading on the lower parts of the trees, (2) encouraging fruiting wood.
Then i was watching an apple espalier pruning vid where the guy doing the summer pruning said that summer pruning was done for the same 2 reasons.
That’s what Tom Spellman says a lot. Also another point is vigor. You reduce vigor with summer pruning, and increase it with winter. When to prune is changing in some circles. It is believed with sweet cherries because of winter diseases, certain fungi can infect branches in the winter. So summer pruning is when you should prune sweet cherries. Although at times I prune late spring because fruit clusters are too thick at the tips on sweet cherries on dwarfing rootstock. Not enough leaf mass to support the cherries.So heading tips on cherries is a good idea. I’m not sure if you could do this in the summer? Maybe in the fall but I worry about stimulating growth.
This turned into a very good thread. Thanks for all the great answers, and its nice to hear others had the same question. Overall, you’ve given me some reassurance that I needed. Like @scottfsmith , I usually carry my pruners when I’m in my orchard, and often cut things that are heading in the wrong direction (usually toward the center). It made sense to me, but almost everything you read says pruning should be done in dormancy. I understand that recommendation when it comes to major, structural cuts just like some of you have said, but it sounds like I’m ok to keep sniping the smaller stuff. so thanks
I think one of aspecst for dormant pruning besides what was discussed here is that, that’s when commercial orchards or those who have a lot of trees have time to do it. Once spring comes, they are way too busy with other things besides thinning.
I do not prune anything in the dead of winter because I do not have to. In fact, many articles suggested do not prune if there is severely cold weather (like subzero) in the forecast. I prune pome in early spring and stone fruit later. Cherry pruning is recommended in the summer.
My “when” to prune also include only on dry days… I do not prune in the rain or a forecast of prolonged wet weather esp. stone fruit. I can wait. But those with many tress or large orchard can’t.
Thanks for confirming what I already felt. @mamuang , what you said makes all the sense in the world. If you are a big commercial nursery you probably are extremely busy in the warmer months, so it makes perfect sense for them to do most pruning in dormant months. But its nice hearing that others, like me, are doing some pruning year round.
Middle of autumn and I still have pruning questions.
I still don’t understand what to do with my bartlett pear tree. Two seasons ago I lost the central leader to borers. Since that point the thing has been all watersprouts. Last winter, because I didn’t understand, I pruned out the watersprouts. Well this year they came back even more so. I did not prune them in the summer and now the tree is riddled with three to four foot watersprouts, many of which have two or three coming up from the same spot. I think I should add I picked about 10 good pears this year for the first time off this tree so I feel all is not lost.
questions…
Should I just leave it alone this winter and wait for the summer to prune out all the unwanted wood? Most of them are in the center of the tree so not ideally placed. I feel if I leave it alone, there will be so much wood crowding the center. Or, should I take some wood out in the winter and try to bend the rest down to encourage fruit spurs and try and clean it up in the summer?
My gut is to do nothing this winter, bend some branches the best I can in the spring, and prune out the rest in the summer.
Any tips would be helpful. It seems doing nothing is harder than doing something.
Have you reestablished a leader.
Having a central leader helps to control other growth. ( waterspouts)
I would prune out what you need to , when you can.
Rubbing off water sprouts in spring , when they are soft ,with a leather glove on is easyest.
I have one standard pear tree with similar water sprouts. It would have been best in my opinion to remove them during the past summer but I didn’t. I’m going to remove them this winter and attempt to keep the new sprouts rubbed off. If some of them are located in suitable places I will bend them down.
Thanks Bill. I think I may experiment and remove a few branches this winter, cut a few to several buds, and cut the rest off in the summer. We will see.
Sorry to bring back an old question but in regards to younger newer trees would summer pruning decrease vigor and growth? Or shall I say spring pruning. In the beginning of this year I had to prune two of my peach trees back quite far to help promote a better structure than what the Nursery had done when I purchased them. Now they are booming with growth everywhere. As the city man was saying is this a waste of energy? Shall I cut back/cut out branching structure that is going into the Center of the tree? Also if there are two scaffolding branches should I cut one back? To promote growth in the direction I want. I would like full-size trees I don’t really want to do the back yard orchard culture of Tom Spellman as I have space all of my trees 15 feet. I just hate to see a tree that looks like a bush haha. And I don’t mind waiting until the spring of next year.
