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Traute Klein, biogardener
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More on Tree Pruning

Pruning Fruit Trees, Instructions
Simple step by step instructions on pruning fruit trees of the rose family to give maximum harvest.

Principles of Tree Pruning
Every type of tree or shrub has an ideal time to be pruned for maximum benefits. Pruning at the wrong time is counterproductive.

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Pruning Basics
Tools, Techniques, Timing

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Pruning Fruit Trees, Introduction

by Traute Klein, biogardener

Fruit trees of the rose family need severe pruning to produce a rich harvest. This pruning needs to be done during their dormant stage, and that is the ideal time when gardeners have lots of time.

Other articles on pruning are linked in the left column, including one with instructions on how to prune rose family fruit trees.

Pruning Organically

Some organic gardeners feel that pruning is an abuse of nature. That is like saying that discipline is child abuse.

God told Adam and Eve to have dominion over creation. Some people have misinterpreted those words to give themselves license to abuse creation. I have been a student of the Bible all my life, and I have always understood this passage to mean that we are to look after the world like the creator would if he were doing it in person.

I consider myself a caretaker placed in my spot of this earth by the creator to carry on his creative and nurturing work.

Hibernating Trees

Today's article deals only with trees which need to be pruned in their dormant state. In my part of the world, those are mainly fruit trees. When the soil is frozen solid, there is no transfer of nutrients between soil and tree, and the tree simply hibernates until the soil thaws out. That is the time when fruit trees get pruned. I have many of them in my garden and on my hobby farm, and I am grateful for the chance to do winter pruning. Prairie summers are short and hectic, and I prefer to spend my time planting trees rather than having to fuss with them.



Rose Family Fruit Trees

In Manitoba, where I garden, all fruit trees belong to the rose family. Like wild roses, their flowers have 5 petals. The fruit has pits or stones. I have never grown any other type of fruit trees and do not know how to prune them. This is the fruit which I am able to grow are mainly hardy apple, Nanking cherry, and plum. Warmer climates include these members of the rose family: pear, peach, apricot, nectarine, cherry.

Fruit trees have one purpose in life, and that is to produce fruit. I have little use for flowering crabapples which are quite popular around here. They are hardy in the coldest winters, but they are only beautiful to look at for a couple of weeks while in bloom. In autumn, the rotting fruit falls on the ground for the robins to get drunk on, and believe me, they do. Those birds love the fruit, but their system cannot deal with it the partial fermentation. Even humans get sick with half finished wine. That is what the Bible means when it talks about getting drunk on new wine.

Timing of Pruning

If a fruit tree is pruned in the spring, all the effort which the tree has put into bud production is wasted. If it is pruned in the summer or autumn, the tree will regrow several new shoots in the spot where a branch is cut off, counteracting the purpose of the pruning.

Fruit trees definitely have to be pruned during their dormant period. That means between the time when the leaves fall off in autumn and the time when the buds pop in spring. Here in Manitoba, that season lasts six months, giving me plenty of time to prune all my fruit trees properly. You will have to determine the proper time for your part of the world by watching the trees.

Continuation

Look for the article "Pruning Fruit Trees, Instructions" in the left hand column.

© Traute Klein, biogardener