Pruning fruit trees is often said to be a gardener’s favourite job. I wouldn’t disagree. There is a long history and tradition of techniques and custom when it comes to fruit tree care. Somewhere between wassailing and Lorette you may find me confidently tipping back a flourishing spur system or removing an old unproductive limb.
The pruning methods I follow include a late summer prune for spur bearing, formally trained espaliers and cordons of apple and pear, followed up by winter pruning of the same trees, plus the annual prune for standard orchard trees. All stone fruit (cherries, plums damsons, peaches etc) are renewal pruned only in the summer months to minimize risk of disease. A helpful sound-bite for your annual pruning goal is ‘summer for fruit, winter for growth’. Pruning over the summer months generally moderates growth and can stimulate the production of new fruit buds, whilst pruning over winter thins overgrown spur systems and can encourage the production of vigorous growth shoots. Trying to manage your trained fruit trees with one late summer prune (aka RHS) can be more difficult with less satisfactory results and other issues.
Summer pruning of Apples, Pears and Plums
The yearly pruning routine aims to keep your tree healthy and productive – as long as its not pruned too hard, or ignored completely. Timing can be agonised over and these are important considerations but the quality and quantity of your crop will have as much to do with flowering times, seasonal weather conditions, winter chill, late frosts, wet summers- the list goes on. The only thing under your control is your pruning method.
An excellent detailed description of the various pruning methods and in what situation to use them can be found in Natural England’s publication on maintenace pruning in traditional orchards; Technical Information Note TIN017
On apples, fruit is borne most prolifically on 2-3 year old wood, with fruiting side branches (spurs) developing to bear the weight of the crop (unless you have a tip-bearer, but that’s another story). Older wood becomes fruitless but structural, supporting the good arrangement of flowering wood; the youngest wood is enthusiastic but bears little fruit. The winter prune is as important in balancing out the structure of the branching system. It is important not prune too hard though, as this will just encourage a flush of fruitless new growth.
Trained fruit trees, such as espaliers, cordons and fans are generally pruned in late summer and again in winter when the fruiting spur system is revealed in all its glory.
Winter pruning of Apples & Pears
As winter approaches, Gareth starts to schedule in the seasonal task of fruit tree winter pruning. Whether standard trees widely spaced in a traditional orchard or espaliers and cordons formally trained in a walled kitchen garden.
Pictured below are some old apple espaliers that perfectly illustrate the techniques and pitfalls when maintaining trained fruit trees, whether espaliers, cordons or whatever shape takes your fancy. Planted in the late 1890’s these trained fruit trees at Barrow Court in North Somerest were once regarded as one of the finest collections of trained fruit in the south west. Over a century later, they are reaching the end of their life but a programme to conserve them as heritage varieties was undertaken by Gareth and his team at Edwards Garden Design whilst we were the contract gardeners at Barrow Court between 2011-18. After a few years off, Gareth & his team took on Barrow Court again in 2023 and are carrying on the restoration and maintenance.
As for the routine maintenance, channelling the fruit trees growth into the production of good quality fruit is the aim. Unrestricted, the espalier would happily shoot away with an abundance of vertical growth, as seen in these top-heavy espaliers here.
Above shows pruned, thinned spur system on some old espalier apples. A more assertive approach could be used, encouraging the replacement of older unproductive branches with new fruitful ones, but these trees are getting on, so a programme of grafting onto new rootstocks is producing a new generation of replacements.
The important trick is being able to distinguish fruit buds from growth buds (happily plump or narrowly focused and angular) and knowing how the twig will respond when you snip it. On younger trees, a late summer prune can be the more important seasonal prune, channeling growth into the development of the all important fruit buds. Here however, dealing with old trees, the winter prune is as important in balancing out the conjested branching system. It is important not prune too hard though, as this will just encourage a flush of fruitless new growth.