Pruning fruit trees in the summer in the garden - why is it needed?

While I was not closely involved in the garden that my parents planted, I didn’t know anything about the need for summer pruning of fruit trees. I was even sure that trees are pruned only in early spring or late autumn. But it turns out that pruning of fruit trees is needed for almost the whole year. By the way, the formation of the crown is a creative process, so creative that once I got so carried away that from my favorite apricots there was some kind of horned toy. So the correct pruning is a beautiful appearance of the garden, but not only. .. The harvest also depends on it.

Of course, the main pruning operations are carried out in the garden in spring and autumn. And summer pruning of fruit trees is a “job” with green, non-lignified or young shoots that have just begun to be covered with thin bark. Its purpose: first, it is necessary to thin the crown so that it becomes evenly lit and sufficiently ventilated, and, secondly, to ensure access to each branch when spraying trees from pests and diseases.

In the summer, mostly in June and early July, gardeners often use easily executed tree pruning operations — nipping, pinching, breaking, breaking, pruning. Consider each method separately.

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Pinching

This technique allows you to stop the growth of the shoots of the current year. When summer pruning, we remove( pinch) the top of a green twig with three to five leaves. We usually do this when it is difficult in the summer to decide whether we will leave this branch in the fall or spring, to the point where it will be here or not. After pinching, branch growth stops for 1.5-2 weeks. The process can be repeated when growth processes are resumed. Pinch vertically growing shoots or branches growing deep into the crown.

It is difficult to accurately determine the timing of the summer nip, they depend on the strength of growth, the age of the tree, conditions of detention. For example, in fruit trees such as peach, apricot, and cherry plum, pinching is carried out in the first half of June( in early spring - at the end of May), when young shoots begin active growth.

What result should I expect from summer nip? This is the buildup of shoots from the newly awakened buds, their timely aging to winter.

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Pinching

This trimming technique differs from nipping only in that we don’t pinch 3-5 leaves from the top, but on the contrary, leave 3-5 leaves on the bottom. On this branch from the upper leaf sinus, a new shoot begins to grow, which we also pinch( pruning), leaving 2-3 leaves. We carry out such an operation on young branches that grow from large( uterine) branches.

What is achieved by the summer pinning? Achieved full formation of wood around the uterine branch, which in turn accelerates, increases and improves fruit formation.

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Breakout

Vertical shoveling shoots on cherry plum thicken the crown of the tree

This is a very simple technique. Most commonly used on stone tree species. With its help, the best illumination of the crown is achieved, since the grassy vertically growing shoots are broken out, which have no value for the formation of the crown. By the way, the tree easily tolerates the summer break, since the wounds received heal much faster than the cuts that need treatment after the spring and autumn pruning.

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Breaking

A technique rarely used by gardeners, but it is very effective when you need to give shoots that then become branches, the desired direction of growth is down or horizontally. By the way, the more horizontal a branch grows, the greater the yield on it, the better it matures. Keep this in mind, giving the branch a certain direction when it breaks. To do this, press on the sprig in the place of breakage with your thumbnail and flatten it, directing the lower part in the right direction. In the place of breakage wound tissue is formed, which grows and fixes the escape in the future.

By the way, not only green shoots can be cracked.2-3-year-old branches are suitable for this operation. If you notice that some branch is too long and the fruit from it will be difficult to get, you can send its growth horizontally or down fracture. But the nail here is not enough. We have to gently bend the branch so that the bark on the top of the branch burst, and the central part just bent, slightly cracked. In the future, the rift will grow, and the position of the branch will fix as it shouldHonestly, I broke more than one branch before I got the desired result. Still, the reception of a break in woody branches requires practical skills.

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Trimming

This summer pruning technique is somewhat similar to pinching. The purpose of it - it allows you to get flower buds at the base of the shoots in the year of their growth.

Reception: select branches not needed for the formation of branches on the tree. It may even be vertically growing shoots. We cut them shortly almost to the base, but leaving two well-formed sheets. After 1.5-2 weeks from the top bud on this stump with two leaves, a new shoot sprouts. We also cut it short. A month later, in the leaf bosom at the base of the shoot, a flower bud is formed - this is the key to the future harvest.

Summer trimming trimming - trimming is interesting and quite effective, but in the case of a rainy summer it will not bring the expected result. Frequent rains will lead to the fact that when pruning, not only the upper, but also the second lower bud will germinate. In this case, the flower bud may not form. That is, we will not achieve the goal.

By the way, this( 2015) year because of the prolonged warm autumn and sharp drops in air temperature to -20 ° C, the fruit buds on the stone fruit trees( peach, apricot, plum, plum) were badly damaged. In the spring we got a lot of frozen dry branches, which had to be cut to live tissue. Then came the heavy rains in April and May. This provoked the abundant growth of young shoots. If the summer pruning of green shoots or beginners to woody shoots is not carried out, by the end of the summer we will get too thick a crown, which will be harder to thin out in the fall. In addition, such abundant growth of branches will further weaken our trees that have survived such a difficult winter.