By Kristine Adel – Patrick County Master Gardener
First of all, I want to extend a big shout out to my fellow Master Gardener, Carol Russo, for helping me with this article on Fall pruning. Thank you, Carol!
I openly and honestly admit that when it comes to pruning, there are some things about which I am confident; but there are other things where my knowledge and experience are lacking, especially when it comes to properly pruning my fruit-bearing trees, shrubs, and vines.
Fortunately for me, Carol not only knows a lot about pruning, she didn’t mind sharing her books and other resources with me either.
I’ll start with a quick review of the things I’m most familiar with – some basics that generally hold true for pruning and shaping.
Ornamental Trees and Shrubs.
Most flowering trees and shrubs should be pruned just after flowering to encourage the new growth that will sport next year’s flowers. For some, this is in the Spring. For others, dormant pruning in the Late Fall or Late Winter is best before the ground warms up and the sap starts flowing.
Always check a reputable source like the Virginia Cooperative Extension Pruning Calendar for guidance if you have any doubts about your specific plants
Before we jump into the how-to part, remember to always wear appropriate personal protection equipment such as eye goggles, heavy gloves, etc. If accidents never happened, we’d have to call them planned events.
Let’s start with some general pruning principles:
* If you cut the central leader on a young tree, you can limit its height. This is a heading cut. Remember to make the cut just after a node (or bud) without damaging the bud itself.
* If you cut off the end of a branch, that branch will stop growing outward. It will fill in along its length and grow stronger instead. This is also a type of heading cut used for shaping. Remember to make the cut just after a node (or bud).
* Conversely, if you take entire branches off, just outside of the thickened collar that attaches to the trunk or the branch where it originates, growth will occur on the remaining branches, with more light and better air circulation around them. This is a type of thinning cut. Remember not to damage the collar.
* Shrubs with multiple stems, or canes, can also be thinned by removing older canes at ground level.
* Under most circumstances, no more than a third of the plant should be removed in any given year unless it is necessary to remove dead, damaged, or diseased portions of the plant.
As I mentioned before, my confidence falters when it comes to trees and shrubs that produce fruit. In fact, I’ve been quite the coward, letting my Grape Vines and young Apple Trees get more than a little out of hand.
Not only have I worried that I don’t know enough – it’s kind of scary knowing once you cut stuff off, you can’t put it back on.
But this year I finally understood that not pruning could be just as frightening as diving in and maybe ending up with less than text book perfect results.
Delaying proper pruning will almost always result in the following:
* Insufficient light
* Insufficient air circulation
* Increased chance of damage
* Increased likelihood of disease
* Fewer, smaller fruits
So, with a lot of help, here is what I’ve learned:
Apple Trees (Bonus: This also applies to Pear Trees, Plum Trees, and Sweet Cherry Trees)
* Cutting the central leader while the tree is still young is important to limit height.
* Fruit is heavy. Lateral branches that come off the trunk at narrow angles and those that come off the trunk at overly wide angles are prone to breaking. A 60° angle is ideal.
* Looking at the branches from the side, select those that have strong angles and good scaffolding (evenly spaced, 3 – 12 inches apart) which will allow for good light and air circulation. This might be 4 – 6 branches the first year.
* Looking from the top of the tree, the selected branches should extend in all directions like a flower or a pinwheel.
*The overall tree shape should be somewhat conical – a little narrower at the top to allow maximum light to reach all branches.
Peach Trees are generally pruned to grow low and wide, 8 – 9 feet tall at maturity, with a low, open center.
* The central leader is generally cut to about 30 inches in the first year.
* At that time, 3- 4 lateral branches are chosen, well-spaced around the trunk.
* Fruiting occurs on the previous year’s growth, necessitating yearly pruning to maintain production.
* Annual pruning includes the following actions:
- a) removing upright shoots from the open center
- b) moderate thinning to make room for new growth
- c) limiting the outward growth of lateral branches with heading cuts that will stimulate new growth nearer to the center of the tree
Blueberries, Gooseberries, and Currants shouldn’t require pruning for the first three to five years. At that time, the goal of pruning is to remove the oldest stems, or canes, in favor of newer, more vigorous growth.
Remember: Never remove more than a third of the shrub in any given year unless necessary to remove branches that are dead, damaged, or diseased.
Caneberries are a bit trickier. Canes like Blackberries and Raspberries are generally pruned several times a year, managing different aspects of growth and production in different seasons.
No matter when you are pruning caneberries, remember to destroy the pruned debris. Also be sure to apply a fungicide and disinfect your tools to prevent the spread of disease regardless of whether you see signs or not.
Right now, in late Fall, any dead canes remaining should be removed.
Most Caneberries are biennial, also known as Floricane varieties, meaning the fruit is produced on second year growth. Even Ever Bearing varieties that begin producing fruit on first year canes, also known as primocanes, will not produce fruit on a cane that is older than two years.
So any cane of any variety that is older than two years has finished bearing fruit and will be dead this time of year.
If you aren’t certain which canes are dead, look near the base of the cane. New canes may still be green. Primocanes that will bear fruit next year may appear reddish brown, but they will also show green if scratched lightly with a finger nail. Spent canes will be brown and dry all the way through.
Many people prefer to cut all Ever Bearing canes almost to the ground this time of year and start fresh in the Spring. It is also possible, however, to wait until Late Winter to select which canes to keep, the same as you would with a Floricane variety.
The advantage to selecting the best canes on an Ever Bearing variety is they will yield twice: First a Summer crop on the Floricanes and then a Fall crop on the primocanes.
In Late Winter, the strongest canes with the most buds are chosen to keep, preferably at least a half inch in diameter. The rest are removed. Select 4 – 5 per hill, for Blackberry and as many as 8 – 10 for Raspberry. Also prune lateral branches to about 12 inches at this time.
Late Winter timing is important. Wait until after the worst of the cold weather has passed, but also before the buds begin to swell and develop.
In Summer, the new primocanes on Blackberries and Ever Bearing Raspberries need to be tipped, or cut, about 6 – 8 inches taller than their supports to encourage strong lateral branching. This needs to be done while the growth at the top of the primocanes is still soft enough to pinch back by hand. Take care not to tip the plants when rain is expected in the coming days to help prevent disease.
Floricane Raspberries, however, should not be tipped in Summer. Height can be better managed on Floricane Raspberries in Late Winter.
As always, remove dead, damaged, or diseased canes whenever you find them.
Lastly, Late Fall is the time to prune Grape Vines. It is important to look after them now while they are dormant. Pruning them Late Winter or Spring after the sap starts running will result in wounds that drip profusely for weeks, wasting precious energy that would be better saved for making delicious fruit.
Grapes are generally trained and pruned using two different systems. Initial training and development of the trunk and arms can take several years. Either system below can be used with traditional supports of post and line or an arbor.
The first is the cordon-trained system:
Over successive years, a semi-permanent trunk is trained on a vertical support with 2 semi-permanent extensions of the trunk supported horizontally like arms, or cordons. Each cordon extends almost to the neighboring cordon of the next Grape Vine in the row.
Each fall, new, smaller vines, or spurs, hanging down from the cordons, are chosen and pruned to a length containing 1-4 buds each. These spurs will produce the next season’s fruit. The number of spurs are determined by counting the total number of buds. Each linear foot of the cordon can support 5 buds. All other growth along the cordon is removed.
The second method is known as the 4 arm Kniffin system:
Over successive years, a semi-permanent trunk is trained on a vertical support, same as with the cordon system. The Kniffin system, however, has 2 horizontal supports that will eventually support 4 semi-permanent arms, each 8 – 10 inches long.
Each fall, 2 spurs are chosen from each arm and all other growth is removed. The first spur, for fruiting, comes directly out of the base of the arm. It should be cut back to 10 buds. A second smaller spur, originating from near the base of the fruiting spur, should be chosen as the renewal spur. It should be cut back to 2 buds. This renewal spur will become the next season’s fruiting spur.
Learning and gaining a better understanding of what I’ve read on this subject has been enlightening for me. Working up the courage to put it into practice on my own trees and vines, however, has been a challenge and a little unnerving, I’ll admit.
But as I began to cautiously and carefully prune my trees, the things I had read and learned started to make more sense. I’m sure I didn’t do it all perfectly, but I am confident that the more I practice, the better I’ll get. And so will you!
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Contact us at patrickmastergardeners.org,
And come see us at the Mistletoe Market in Stuart on December 6.
