Gardening – The art of pruning fruit trees

I can tell you from experience that if you don’t set your fruit tree up for success by training it during the early years, unpruned fruit trees get out of control very quickly. Once this happens, they become infestation sites for serious insect pests and disease.

First research your tree variety, Feijoas require different cuts to citrus or apples for example. And be aware of what you are trying to achieve with your pruning. 

• Why do we prune?
• To reduce the size 
• To allow for easier picking
• To be able to net the ripening fruit
• To promote flowering and fruiting
• To allow more sunlight and air movement into the centre of the tree
• To remove dead or diseased wood and broken or thin shoots
• Removing any shoots growing from below the graft union

For my citrus trees, I use sharp clean secateurs and prune just after harvesting fruit and before new growth begins. I use white water-based paint on any cuts to avoid the lemon tree borer which is active from November to March. After fruiting, the grapefruit trees get a severe prune.

After harvest, I prune the feijoa, removing any crossing branches to allow a blackbird to fly through the centre. Any broken or spindly branches get the chop, and as I want to be able to reach the fruit, I prune out a third of the canopy, as well as any branches touching the ground.

During the winter and before bud burst, I prune my persimmon trees.  Persimmons fruit on new wood, so I remove about half of last season’s growth, especially the vigorous upright branches. I want a low growing vase shape so I can easily reach the fruit.

Pear trees are a little trickier as they fruit on two to three year-old fruiting spurs. I prune during winter dormancy before buds swell and try to maintain a central leader shape without letting the tree get too tall.

I have two summer fruiting plums, which get pruned after harvest. I am pruning to create an open-centre vase-like shape to allow in light. I reduce new growth by a third and cut just above an outward facing bud on a 45° angle, so water does not pool.

The apple trees get pruned between July and August, when I remove about a third of the canopy.

I am slowly removing some of my larger fruit trees and planting dwarf fruit trees which produce a bounty of full-size fruit; they only need a light prune to maintain shape!

Having a variety of fruit trees on my small section has led to the purchase of a chipper.