For many people who are just starting to work in the garden, cutting fruit trees seems like a very hard and scary thing to do because they think it might hurt the plant.
But in reality, it is one of the most important jobs you can do to help the tree be healthy, to identify tree by photo, and to get more and better fruit from it.
Pruning is not a bad action, but a well-planned action that helps the tree grow in the right way, makes its shape better, and also helps the tree live for a long time.
The main reasons for cutting trees can be put into three important groups:
Shaping the top part of the tree: A young tree needs a good shape, and you do this with a special kind of cutting that makes a strong skeleton which can hold the weight of the fruit, so that all parts of the tree get a lot of light and air, which is very important for the fruit to grow well and for stopping diseases.
Making the tree new again: Old trees that have not been cared for and do not give a lot of fruit can be made new again with a special kind of cutting that helps new and stronger branches grow, and these new branches will later take the place of the old ones that do not give much fruit.
Getting more fruit: Cutting the tree helps you control how many fruits the tree makes, and it sends the food from the ground to the fruits that are left, which makes them bigger, juicier, and taste better.
When you do the cutting in the right way, it helps the tree be stronger against diseases and bugs, and it also makes it easier to take care of the tree, like when you need to spray it or pick the fruit.
Getting Ready
Before you start to cut the tree, you need to be sure that you have the right tools, and they must be sharp and clean because a tool that is not sharp will tear the bark and the wood, making a bad wound where it is easy for diseases to get in.
Main tools:
Pruning shears: This is the main tool for cutting branches that are up to 2-2.5 cm wide.
Loppers: This is a bigger pair of shears with long handles, and you use it for branches up to 5 cm wide that are high up or hard to reach.
Pruning saw: You use this for cutting thick branches that your loppers cannot cut. It is important that the teeth on the saw are wide and far apart so that the wood pieces can come out easily.
Gardening knife: You use this to clean the cuts, to take off old bark, and to cut thin branches.
Cleaning Your Tools Is a Must
After you finish with each tree, and it is a good idea to do this after you cut a sick branch, you must make your tools clean so that you stop the spread of diseases from one tree to another.
What to use to clean: You can use a 1% solution of copper sulfate, some alcohol, potassium permanganate, or hydrogen peroxide.
How to clean: First, you should clean all the green stuff and dirt from the blades, and then you should wipe them with a cloth that has the cleaning liquid on it.
If you do not follow this rule, you could give a healthy tree a disease that came from a sick tree.
Main Ways to Prune: When and How You Should Do It
There are different ways to cut trees, and you do them depending on how old the tree is and what its health is like.
Sanitary Pruning
This is the easiest and most important type of cutting, and its main goal is to take away all the broken, sick, dry, or cracked branches from the tree.
When to do it: You can do this at any time of the year as soon as you see a problem. It is especially important to do it in the spring before the tree starts to send water up to its branches, and in the autumn after you have picked all the fruit.
How to do it: You should cut the branch until you see healthy wood. If a branch is sick, you should cut it with some extra space so you are sure that you have taken away all the bad parts. You must burn the cut branches right away to stop the sickness from spreading.
To find diseases that are not easy to see, like bark that looks strange or dead buds, you can use special apps like the Ai Plant Finder app which can tell you exactly what the problem is and which branches you should take off.
Shaping Pruning
You do this kind of cutting on young trees during their first 5-7 years of life, and its goal is to make a strong and easy-to-care-for top part of the tree. There are a few main shapes:
Open-centered shape: This is a good shape for most fruit trees because it makes a strong skeleton from 5-7 main branches that are in levels, and this lets a lot of light and air get to the tree.
Vase shape: This shape is very good for trees with pits inside their fruit, like peaches and cherries, because it does not have a main branch in the middle, and this helps the whole tree get a lot of light, and it is also easy to pick the fruit.
Rules for shaping:
You should choose strong branches that grow from the main trunk at a wide angle. Branches that grow at a sharp angle can break more easily when they have heavy fruit on them.
You should take off the branches that are in a fight with the main branch or that grow into the middle of the tree.
You should keep a good space between the main branches so they can grow well.
Rejuvenation Pruning
You do this kind of cutting on old and uncared-for trees that do not give a lot of fruit anymore and whose branches do not grow well.
When to do it: In the spring before the tree starts to send water to its branches.
How to do it: This kind of cutting takes a long time and is done over 2-3 years.
Year 1: First, you should take away all the dry and sick branches, and then you should cut the big main branches down to 1/3 or 1/2 of their size, leaving a strong side branch to grow.
Year 2: Take away some of the old branches that you left and thin out the new branches that grew after the first cut.
Year 3: Finish the job by taking away the last of the old branches.
The most important rule is to not take off more than 1/3 of all the branches in one year so that you do not hurt the tree.
Practice: Cutting Young and Old Trees
Cutting Young Trees (1-4 Years Old)
Year 1: Cut the main branch down by 1/3. Choose 3-5 strong branches for the first level and cut them down by 1/3, and take away the others by cutting them off at the base.
Year 2: Cut the main branch again. Choose 2-3 new branches for the second level. Thin out the branches from the first level by taking off the ones that grow into the middle of the tree.
Year 3-4: Keep making the levels, take off the branches that are in a fight with the main one, and make the top of the tree less thick.
By this time, the tree's shape should be ready.
Cutting Old Trees
Old trees often have a very thick top and a lot of dry branches.
Start with sanitary cutting: Take away all the sick and dry branches.
Thin out the top: Take off branches that cross each other, that grow too close together, or that are growing into the middle.
Making the tree new again: Slowly, over a few years, take off the old branches that do not give a lot of fruit, which will help new ones grow.
Cutting shorter: Cut the ends of the main branches that are left to help them grow new branches.
How to Take Care of the Tree after Cutting
After every time you cut the tree, especially when you take off thick branches, you must take care of the cuts.
Sealing the cuts: You can use a special garden wax or paint to cover the cuts to stop diseases from getting into the wound and help it get better faster.
You must seal cuts that are more than 2 cm wide.
Water and food: You should give it a lot of water and some plant food after the cut, which will help it get better and use its energy to grow new branches.
Remember that cutting a tree is not a one-time thing but a regular job that needs you to be patient and careful.
With each year, you will learn to understand your tree better, what it needs, and you will learn how to know what and when you need to cut.