by Margie Siegal
People have grown fruit trees for thousands of years. In that time, careful farmers have developed techniques to help each tree be the best tree it can be. That means appropriate watering, control of bad bugs and plant diseases, adding fertilizer as appropriate, and – pruning.
Pruning is important: it removes diseased wood, increases air flow (which discourages many disease organisms) and shapes the tree so that it does not get too tall for you to manage. For many trees, pruning is done twice a year, in summer (after harvest) and in winter. Summer pruning is mostly about keeping the tree to the size you want. Winter pruning is mostly about removing crossing branches, dead branches and weak limbs that might break. Winter pruning sets the tree up to grow properly in spring. Some trees (apricots especially) should not be pruned in winter, since they are susceptible to fungal infections spread by damp.
Your tools for this project are important. You need a purpose built PRUNER, and it needs to be very sharp. A dull pruner will crush, rather than cut, harming the tree rather than helping it. Cheap pruners do not cut accurately and are harder to use. You want the best pruner you can afford. Felco is the industry standard, but they are not cheap. Ask other gardeners what they recommend if Felco is a little rich for your blood. Pruners come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but a basic bypass pruner that fits your hands well is all you really need to start with. It will cut branches up to a half inch in diameter.
You also need a SHARPENER, to keep an edge on that pruner. My criteria for a sharpener is “is it easy to use when out standing in a field?” My favorite sharpener folds like a pocket knife and has a clip so I can hook it on my jeans. Pruner sharpeners (sold at garden supply stores and on the Internet) either have slots with a V shape to hold the pruner blade at the right angle or a small sharpening stone that you pull along the blade. You can also use an extra fine file. If you use a stone or a file, hold it at the same angle as the beveled cutting edge (usually between 10 degrees and 20 degrees – visualize a clock face with the hands at 12:10). Starting at the inside of the blade, pull the stone or file toward the tip. Follow the shape of the blade. Do this about 10 times each time before you prune. If you plan to work on several trees, stop in between each tree, clean the pruner with rubbing alcohol and steel wool and sharpen again. This stops the spread of diseases between trees.
Now, go out and look at your tree. Do any branches look dead? Are any branches crossing and rubbing on each other? Is there a cluster of smaller branches that will potentially keep air from circulating? Is a branch long, but too thin to support itself? Is a branch growing in the wrong direction and ruining the shape of the tree? Take some gift wrap ribbon and tie four inch lengths to the problem branches. Stand back and look at the tree some more. When in doubt- leave the branch be. You should not cut more than one third of the branches in any event.
Once you have decided what needs to go and what should stay, look at each branch you want to cut. On most fruit trees, branches have a collar where they project from the main branch or trunk. You want to cut just beyond this collar. If you only want to cut part of a branch, cut just above a node that is pointing in the right direction. This node will develop into a new branch. Visualize the new branch. Where is it going to go?
Many people like visual instructions, and the Marin Master Gardeners have posted an hour long tutorial on Pruning for Beginners. This tutorial is divided into chapters, and you can easily jump to a topic that interests you. The Master Gardeners discuss the anatomy of a tree, the four types of pruning cuts, and the results pruning hopes to achieve, and shows before and after examples.
I like to take a little off, stand back, look at what the tree looks like, and take a little more off. Going slowly keeps mistakes to a minimum. After you are happy with your tree, clean your pruners, and oil them with either 3 in 1 oil or olive oil. Oiling garden tools (especially the wood handles!) is an excellent use for olive oil that is beginning to turn rancid.
Come spring, your happy tree, freed of dead weight, will bloom beautifully and grow.
