How To Prune Fruit Trees

Properly pruning your fruit trees will help ensure high quality fruit year after year. Pruning strengthens branching structures, helps prevent limb breakage due to heavy fruit loads, ensures that all fruit-bearing limbs receive sunlight, and helps fruit grow at heights for easy harvesting.

Prune for natural growth patterns

• Apples, pears and sweet cherries are generally upright growing trees, and should be pruned to encourage vertical growth and a stronger central or main leader. The top portion of the main trunk is cut after the tree begins to bear fruit.
• Peaches, plums, apricots and sour cherries are more spreading in their growth patterns. They may be pruned into what is called "open center" form, with a short main trunk and several large branches carrying most of the leaves and fruit away from the center of the tree.

• Heading Back means cutting or shortening a branch or shoot, cutting the branch just above a bud. This encourages lateral branching.
• Thinning Out removes unwanted or rubbing branches, or those with weak branch angles, by cutting the entire branch or shoot back to a lateral branch or the main trunk.
• Note: Do not prune the short branches known as fruiting spurs. The spurs are the only places where fruit will grow (except for peaches, which fruit on one-year-old wood.)

• At planting - remove injured root tissue and branches with narrow crotch angles, that cross or rub, or that are less than 6 inches from other branches.
• 1st Year - pinch off all unwanted sprouts in the late spring. Encourage the main trunk to grow upward, with side branches only at wide angles.
• 2nd Year - train main side branches to grow outward. Encourage a few upright branches that can serve as "scaffold" branches.
• After - keep the tree leader dominant, and retain 2 or 3 new lateral branches. Aim for balance between parts of the tree.