Pruning Guide

Pruning is a crucial step in growing and maintaining healthy, productive fruit trees.  Pruning creates and maintains tree shape, directs favorable growth and promotes productive, long lived, healthy and harvestable trees.

Most pruning of fruit trees is done in the late winter or very early spring before the trees begin to come out of dormancy. Unwanted growth is removed completly and desired growth is stimulated in the prefered direction.  All of this is accomplished with various pruning techniques. 

Apple Tree Pruning:

The most common tree shape and the two we recommend most are open center and modified central leader.

Open center trees are pruned to create a handful of strong scaffold branches that grow out and up.  Shaping trees that are easier to maintain and harvest. The vigorous central leader is removed and maintained as such season after season.

Modified central leader trees are shaped to have not one set of scaffold branches but two.  The lower scaffold branches are formed similar to that of an open center tree but instead of removing the central leader growth is promoted (typically beginning in the third season) and a second, upper set of scaffold branches are formed a few feet above the first. The leader is then removed and maintained as such.

Each tree form as advantages and disadvantages. 

To simplify:

Open center tree form is shorter and more simple. Being such, trees are easier to harvest and maintain. Less time on a ladder is prefered by most people! The drawbacks are less fruit production over the life of the tree and easier predation by animals like deer.

The pros and cons of modified central leader tree form are essentially the inverse of open center.  Trees are taller, more difficult to maintain and harvest but produce more fruit over the life of the tree and are less likely to be substantly damaged by wildlife.

When it comes to tree form the possibilities are endless, think of a bonsai tree, and no form is perfect.  These are just two of the most common and recommended.

Pear Tree Pruning:

Pear tree growth is typically very vigorous and upright. Because of this different pruning strategies are recommended. The most commonly recommended shape for pear trees is central leader.  Similar to modified central leader but instead of removing the leader after two sets of scaffold branches it is allowed to grow, creating and maintaining scaffold branches along the main central leader creating a classic "Christmas tree" shape.   

Peach Tree Pruning:

Peaches are best pruned to an open center form.

Plum Tree Pruning:

European plums are generally best pruned to a central leader form.

Japanese plums are generally best pruned to an open center form.

Cherry Tree Pruning:

Sweet cherries are generally best pruned to a central leader form.

Tart cherries can be pruned to a central leader or open center form.