Pruning fruit trees - spring care for stone fruit crops

Spring has come - the time of pruning of fruit trees, shrubs. How is it better to organize? Which branches to delete? First, the damaged, overlapping branches growing inside the crown, as well as shading its main part, are removed. Secondly, the prong shoots are removed if they were not cut in the summer.

bushes of Cherry plum before pruning and AFTER

Many of us have anxiety about the future harvest of peach, apricot, cherry. Have your kidneys been frozen in such a changeable winter? What you need to do to find out how the plants survived the winter? Cut a few stone branches, hold them for a day or two in the water, then put them in a warm place. After a while, the buds begin to grow. If we cut the kidney, we see a light green tissue - the kidney is alive. It's ok. If on other cuttings the bark dried out, and when cut - darker, then the cut is blacker - the more freezing. It is possible that such branches have to be removed.

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What should be considered when pruning fruit trees?

Stone fruit fruits - plum, peach, apricot, cherry, cherry - have a loose cell structure of bark and wood, and are also more susceptible to sunburn and freezing wood, often affected by fungal, bacterial infections. In most cases, gum is released in places of damage through cracks on the surface of the bark - juice with a high content of starch, which is converted into a thick sticky mass as a result of oxidative reactions. The gum clogs the conductive systems of the branches above the injury site and part of the branch gradually dies off, followed by drying out. Often, with severe damage, even skeletal branches of the tree die completely.

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Pruning stone fruit trees

For the reasons listed above, pruning fruit trees - stone fruit - is carried out mainly in the spring time: the end of February - March, when the probability of damaging strong frosts is low, and the probability of damage is minimizedwood through the place of cuts or cuts.

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Pruning steps

First of all, before pruning, fruit trees are inspected for cracks, severe cracking, dried branches, and further cut out( sanitary pruning).Next, inspect the trees for the presence of gum. If gum is found, the branch is cut 5-6 cm below the resulting clot.

The next stage of pruning of fruit trees is thinning of the center of the crown, as the stone crops are demanding on the light, airing of the crown. Therefore, further cutting of thickening growth branches is provided.

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Formation of the crown

Cherry - formed the crown of the “cup-shaped” form

The crown of the stone fruit crops is preferably formed by a “non-leader” form - without a central conductor. These can be “cup-shaped”, “vase-shaped” or “improved vase-shaped” crown forming systems. The choice is yours. As you form, such a crown will be in your tree.

Stone fruit species are responsive to shortening branches, branches by at least 1/3 the length with translation to nearby branches, which reduces the likelihood of rapid aging of fruit branches, as well as extends the period of guaranteed fruiting of trees.

Mandatory processing of cuts and cuts. After all types of fruit tree pruning, the obligatory reception is the treatment of sections and cuts with special antiseptic garden putties that help protect plants from all kinds of infections.

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About

Shrubs Red and black currants are being cut: everything that is not cut is removed, not removed from autumn. The same attention should be paid to raspberries. In addition to removing small, unproductive shoots, browse the tops. If you have suffered - cut the tops by 5-10 cm, slightly capturing the green part.

After pruning, all remote shoots are immediately burned, preventing overwintering pests and diseases from spreading.

As we see, March came into its own. March is rushing. We must hurry and us.

Used materials of the newspaper "Niva Kuban" for 2014-2015.