How to Prune Fruit Trees in the Summer
The wonderful variety of fruit trees enables many to enjoy a garden orchard of their own making. Each tree has its own fruiting patterns, as to whether they bud on new wood or older, so it’s always a good idea to check tree-specific information when doing extensive pruning. In general, when it comes to heavy pruning, the best practice is to prune in late winter (depending on where you live), when the tree is dormant. Summer pruning is principally for tree maintenance to keep it healthy and manage growth. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Know your tree’s fruiting habits and prune accordingly. Look for fruit buds on the tree when pruning, and plan your pruning around those to ensure you have fruit. For example, fruit grows on the wood from the previous season for peaches and nectarines, but on old wood for apples, so be careful about cutting off the growth that will produce next year’s fruit.
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Prune for the three D's--dead, damaged and diseased. This is an ongoing procedure throughout the year, and such branches and twigs should all be carefully removed. Also remove diseased leaves.
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Trim away leaves or twigs that are in the way of human traffic if your tree is close to an entry or main path.
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Prune at a slant away from the tree. Cut at a slant, angling away from the tree so water does not run into the tree’s center. Depending on the size of branch, you may need to use pruning or lopping shears or a pruning saw.
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Remove all debris and cuttings.
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Tips & Warnings
Don't spray insecticides on a fruit tree when in bloom or growing fruit without prior consultation with a nursery. Many commercial insecticides contain chemicals that cannot be ingested.
Be careful about what you put in the ground or nearby to a fruit tree. Before using insecticides and herbicides on nearby parts of the lawn or garden, consider your fruit tree's root systems--you don't want them to "eat" the chemicals.
Avoid harmful pruning practices. These include topping the tree; cutting branches way back, known as tipping; ripping the bark or wood when cutting away a branch; cutting a branch flush to the trunk instead of outside the ridge; and stub cuts, where the cut is made straight up and down instead of at an angle to the tree.
