Page 29 - Simply Vegetables Summer 2022

Pear before summer pruning
Columnar Tree
Apple ‘Golden Gate’ column type
Pear Concorde - just summer pruned
Apples Oblique cordons
late June is the ideal time. Plums will take a little more time as there is far more wood to deal with and it is important to thin out what may be considerable growth before the structural pruning. Follow the one-inch (25mm) and six inch (150mm) rule again for cordons. Pruning plum fans is fairly similar to that of peaches and nectarines except that, as with cordon plums, there is plenty of wood to deal with and to avoid overcrowding you will need to identify which shoots are going to be used as replacements and remove the rest.
Plums grown as bush trees will require similar treatment as apple and pear bushes although I advise pruning back three quarters of new growth as these trees tend to be far more vigorous. You will also need to judiciously remove side shoots growing from the main branches as plenty will
be formed. A general rule of thumb that I follow is ensure that these side shoots are cut to about three inches (75mm) from the branch and that the same amount again
is used as a measure for spacing between shoots. This rule may be a little tedious,
but it does prevent overcrowding. As with
Cordon apples
Pear ‘Conferance’ fan
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