Page 30 - Simply Vegetables Summer 2022

Cherry ‘Morello’ Fan
Pear before summer pruning
apple trees you can decide the final height of your trees by careful pruning of the leader.
Although apricot and cherry trees are treated in a similar way to plum trees, I have kept them separate as there is more likely to be dieback to
nectarine fans which require slightly different pruning methods. The first thing to know is that peaches and nectarines fruit on the previous season’s growth. Pruning should have begun in early spring when the sap has started flowing. Leave all of
new shoots back to six leaves at the same time. As these shoots continue to grow tie them into your supporting framework. After harvesting in July or August prune out any old wood that you left last year plus the wood that has supported this year’s crop as they have no further value. Tie in the new shoots to take their place. If you have too many new shoots growing do not be afraid to cut them out.
The most important thing to recognise about all of the stone fruit that I have dealt with above is that you have a limited season for pruning. You must only prune when the sap is flowing (to help prevent diseases such as bacterial canker or silverleaf entering the sap system) and I limit that to April to mid-September. If you have to prune outside that time because of branch damage prune the wood back to clean unbroken wood as soon as you can and then smear the wound with a petroleum jelly.
contend with before pruning commences. This is largely the reason that growing apricots and cherries as cordons is more difficult and tiresome! So, before you start pruning cut back all wood that is dead and this can sometimes be quite severe in apricots. It is when you have removed this
Leave all of the fattish buds – these are this year’s fruit buds
the fattish buds - these are this year’s fruit buds - and identify new shoots which don’t bear these yet as they will provide next year’s fruit. Leave one new shoot that has started growing near the base of each existing branch which will be next year’s replacement and another halfway up the branch which will act as an
Pruning equipment
dead wood that you can make judgments about pruning. Otherwise follow the same rules that I have outlined for pruning plums except prune these trees after fruiting and no later than the end of August.
So now let’s have a look at peach and
emergency should the lower one fail. All other emerging shoots should have been removed.
As the new shoots grow tie them in
and in early June pinch back any growth breaking off this shoot to one leaf. Pinch the
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