How to Prune Dormant Fruit Trees

Home gardeners often neglect their fruit trees, especially in the winter months. There are several important chores that fruit trees require during the dormant season, one of which is pruning. Correct pruning will not only increase your yield, but also prolong the life of your fruit tree.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Fan Rake
• Loppers
• Pole Pruners
• Pruning Saws

1. Remove any dead, diseased or injured wood first. Use lopping shears or a pruning saw to cut into a suspected branch: live, viable wood has a layer of green just under the bark - called the cambium, which is black or brown when a branch is dead. Injured wood is anything that has a visible wound, is discolored or has not been producing fruit.

2. Cut any sucker growth away from the base of the tree. Suckers grow from the root stock on grafted plants and will not form fruit. They also sap strength from the upper portion of the plant.

3. Remove any crossing branches. The framework of the tree should be open to allow for maximum air circulation. Branches that cross through the center of the tree will reduce air flow.

4. Cut away any water sprouts, leaving the fruiting spurs. Water sprouts can be identified as long, straight branches that usually grow straight up from the main framework of the tree, while the fruiting spurs are dark in color, very crooked or gnarled and are close to the main framework. The fruit spurs are where the fruit will be formed.

5. Reduce the overall height of the tree. This simple step will make it much easier to harvest your fruit next summer. With a pole pruner, cut to a maximum height of 10 feet; it may take several years of corrective pruning to reduce the height of a mature tree, but young trees are easily trained to grow low.

6. Rake up any fallen leaves, branches, twigs and debris from under the tree. Insects overwinter in plant debris.

7. Spray with a copper/oil or lime/sulfur spray as your last step to kill overwintering insect eggs.

Tips & Warnings

• Use sharp pruning tools to make clean cuts.

[kenaitwo]

on 3/27/2007 what does "NOT painting it" mean? Is it too late to trim a fig tree in late March in Southern California?(21 years old, about 6'tall and 6' wide. bears fruit heavily about every other year. Not sure about the variety. It bears fruit once only in August with purplish dark brown skin and ruby colored flesh. Very sweet. Fig sizes are med.to small)New leaves are already sprouting all over. Thanks! .....Marty

on 11/22/2005 Try to make your cuts as close to the trunk or to a lateral branch without leaving stubs. Trees have a healing collar that is a ring at the base of each limb. Cutting to it and NOT painting it will help the tree recover from the trimming you have done.