Page 30 - ALG Issue 4 2017
P. 30
General
Winter fruit pruning
If you want a decent fruit crop next year then the dormant season is when you need to tidy up and shape your fruit trees, bushes and canes.
Apples, medlars, pears and quince can be pruned in winter. This is important for establishing a sturdy framework on young trees. Cut back the leader on young trees by half with a sloping cut. Remove dead, damaged or diseased branches and any that
are crossing over; cut back this
season’s growth to 5 or 6 buds from the old mature growth. Mature trees will bene t from a pruning that opens up the centre of the tree to allow light and air to enter in the summer. Cut back any over-vigorous young growth.
Bush fruit such as gooseberries, worcesterberries and the currants bene t from a winter prune. Each year remove about a third of the older dark branches at soil level or just above a bud; bushes produce most fruit on wood that is 1 to 3 years old. Cut out dead, diseased and damaged branches, opening up the centre of the bush, aiming for a goblet shape. Cut back new growth by half.
This season’s new canes of blackberries, loganberries, tayberries, boysenberries and summer fruiting raspberries
will need to be tied in and the growth that fruited this year cut back at soil level. Autumn fruiting
raspberries need to be cut back to the ground; they will send up new canes in the
spring.
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