How to Prune Fruit Trees in Washington State
It isn't enough to just plant a few trees and to pick the fruit in the spring. Successfully raising fruit means regularly pruning the trees. Pruning your mature fruit trees will not only keep them from growing too large, but also keep them at maximum production.
- Difficulty:
- Easy
Instructions
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1
Monitor and keep notes about each tree's overall health and fruit production throughout the growing season. This will help you decide which branches to remove and if a tree needs to be culled from your orchard.
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2
Remove any branches that didn't produce fruit.
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3
Remove any branches that are dying. As long as these limbs are still a part of the tree, your fruit tree will continue to send nutrients to the dying limb, nutrients that could be used for fruit production.
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4
Trim any excessively long branches. When you have finished pruning your trees, all of the sides should look balanced.
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5
Trim some of the new small stems from the tree. Although these stems would have borne fruit and might have increased the quantity of your fruit harvest, trees that bear too much fruit become overworked. The fruit is either small, lacks flavor, or has a mealy texture.
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6
Cull any trees that are no longer producing a significant amount of fruit, and replace them with a younger tree.
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