Gardening – Winter pruning

Winter pruning is, unfortunately, one of the most neglected of tasks in the garden. It seems that many gardeners are just too apprehensive about getting it wrong to have a go. Pruning is actually quite easy, and quite enjoyable once you get started. The key is to take your time – approach each tree as an individual and have a good look before you start cutting.

Think about what you are trying to achieve – is it height control or tree shape; generating more fruiting wood or removing vigorous growth; taking out diseased, dead or crossed over limbs; reducing density to improve airflow, reduce disease and improve pollination? And will it take more than one pruning season to achieve some of these goals?

Take out the biggest branch first, then have another look – are your previous decisions still going to work? Then do the remaining big cuts. Now do the detailed cuts – these are the smaller cuts with loppers or secateurs rather than a pruning saw or chainsaw. Typically, they involve heading back shoots to generate more fruiting wood, or thinning cuts to reduce the density. Guess what? You’re done, onto the next tree!

For grapevines, just head everything back to two to three buds from the leader (cordon). Most grapes will have two to four leaders coming off each trunk, any more than this should be removed. If the leader is getting too old and big gaps are appearing between buds, just choose another strong new cane that originates from near the trunk to replace it, cut the old leader out and tie the new one to the wire.

Apples are either spur bearing or branch bearing types. Persimmons are tip bearers, while pears, quince and nashi fruit mainly from spurs, but also from lateral branches. On spur bearers, as the name indicates, the tree will produce many thick, short spurs which remain productive for several years. On spur bearers head back vigorous shoots to encourage more spur growth and occasionally remove older spurs.

On branch bearing apples and tip bearing persimmons there will be fewer or no spurs and fruit is mostly produced on younger wood, so pruning should concentrate on removing older fruiting branches to encourage new shoots to develop. In most cases, it’s easiest for home gardeners to prune apples to form a vase shape. Pears and nashi are more vigorous than apples, so instead of the normal three to five main branches used to form a vase, between six to eight branches are left to form the framework.
Plums bear fruit on shoots from the previous season’s branches and from short spurs. Head back any branches that get too long as these can break from the weight of crop. To encourage more spurs, head back any vigorous water shoots to three to four buds. On peaches and nectarines, which fruit only from new shoots, remove any that are less than pencil thickness, as these are too weak to support fruit. Remove older branches that are getting too large and woody if there is a nearby well-placed younger branch to replace them with.