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Top Six Most Common

Mistakes Made When

Pruning Fruit Trees

By Caleb Torrice

Cornell Cooperative Extension

These are the most common mistakes made hile

inter pruning in the orchard!

"! Cutting branches back instead o# totally removing

them! $# you have a large caliper branch in the top o#

the tree% it needs to be removed! $# that large branchis not removed% o#ten it ill continue to gro taking

nutrients #rom smaller% loer branches! $# a branch is

cut back and not removed% it can increase in

diameter and sti##en the branch!

&! ' little o## the top! (emember that e are striving#or a Christmas tree shape)!a narro top ith a

ide bottom! This shape allos #or maximum sunlight

use! Branches on the top sca##old% i# le#t unchecked%gro vigorously absorbing more sunlight than other

loer branches! This leads to shadoing loer

branches and over time a mushroom shaped tree or

in severe cases% trees ith an upside don Christmastree shape! To avoid this problem% remember to use

hole limb replacement on the top sca##old! *eepthose top branches young% healthy and productive!

+! 'lloing droopy branches to remain in the tree!

This is more obvious on tip bearers such as Cortlandbut o#ten commonplace on most varieties! We all

kno that a tree,s main goal is to gro toards the

sun ith vertical branches! We also all kno that the

best #ruit is bore on hori-ontal branches!

So hat is the story on branches groing don.

(emember that the tree,s hormones and nutrients are#loing through the tree! These are the #actors that

determine bud development% vigor and even #ruit si-e!

When a branch heads south% these necessarycomponents are naturally not abundant in these

areas! That is hy droopy branches usually have

small #ruit and the ood doesn,t sho signs o# vigor

but is mostly spurs! (emove these droopy branches

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by cutting back to a hori-ontal branch! This ill allo

#or larger #ruit! $ kno in tip bearing varieties this is

an ongoing battle% hoever% i# droop branches arenot removed% over years you can see the decline in

productivity% tree health and vigor!

/! 0ot pruning every year! 1et,s be honest ith

ourselves% pruning every year is the best option #or

maximum tree health and productivity% but is it alays#easible. 0o! Warren Stiles used to tell us that the

trees don,t alays read the books! $ interpreted this

to mean that you can,t alays go by the books and

o#ten have to use your best 2udgment!

3elp#ul hint 0o! "4 Focus on dar# trees! This is

here our bread is buttered in today,s marketplace!

Maximi-ing output per acre! Try to prune every yearand at least every other!

3elp#ul hint 0o! &4 5on,t go chainsa cra-y every

#our years! $# you go into a block that hasn,t been

pruned recently and go hog ild% you ill have anexplosion o# groth! $n my opinion% it,s better to cut

less more o#ten! $nstead o# hacking six large branches

in one year% take three one year and three in year

to! This ill help keep your explosive vigor donand allo you to spend hal# as much time per tree6

hope#ully% alloing you to move 7uicker through the

block!

8! 1eaving branches too lo in the tree! This is one

o# the problems associated ith pruning ith yourallet! $ ill prune someone else,s orchard better

than my on% because $ am not counting #ruit buds

outside o# my orchard! Forget about #ruit loss and

#ocus on correct pruning principles! 9ou ill o#tenmakeup #or less #ruit ith larger% cleaner #ruit! $t,s the

same principles ith these lo branches! (emove

them no ith shears or in 'ugust ith the moer!

:! Creating alls in the trees! Part o# the reason #or

pruning is to allo #or spray penetration! $t you havea branch that is creeping into the ro and you decide

to cut it back instead o# totally removing it% don,t cut

it back to a branch going straight up! $ kno this

sounds like common sense% but $ see this on a daily

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basis! $n the inter that branch doesn,t look like a

large threat #or spray penetration% hoever% a#ter a

spring o# groth and hundreds o# leaves% you have avery dense all to spray through! $nstead% cut to a

hori-ontal branch going le#t or right! $# it has a slight

upard direction% don,t orry too much! 3ope#ullyyour huge apples ill bring the branch don to

hori-ontal!

;ne o# the rules in li#e4 For every expert there is an

e7ual and opposite expert! This is very true in

pruning! The more people in an orchard% the more

theories on ho to prune! (emember that there is nocorrect ay to prune% but there are rong ays!