Apple trees are by far the most popular fruit crop among summer residents. Most modern varieties of such garden trees are capable of producing good crops. However, so that the apple trees do not hurt and develop well, they, of course, should be properly looked after. Trees need to be watered and fertilized on time. Of course, in the suburban area, you need, among other things, and in time to prune the apple trees.
What is the procedure for?
There are several varieties of pruning performed for different purposes:
regulatory;
formative;
anti-aging;
sanitary.
Gardeners carry out regulatory pruning of apple trees in order to maintain a balance of their fruiting and growth. Such a procedure involves, for example, the removal of old branches that produce small yields.
Forming pruning allows you to make the tree crown compact and neat. Thanks to this procedure, the yield of apple trees is increased and the risk of developing diseases is reduced. The crowns of properly trimmed trees are well ventilated. However, no shading occurs inside them. In addition, it is much more convenient to harvest from an apple tree with a correctly formed crown.
Anti-aging pruning is done on old apple trees. As a result of this procedure, new shoots grow on a tree, and its productivity also increases.
When performing sanitary pruning, broken, rotten or frostbitten branches are removed. Thanks to this, the tree subsequently spends nutritious resources not on crown restoration, but on fruiting or the formation of new high-quality shoots.
When to trim
Of course, you cannot remove branches from apple trees in the summer. Pruning such fruit trees in spring and autumn. In late March - early April, all frozen branches are removed from the crown of the apple tree.
In the fall, after the leaves fall from the trees and before the onset of frost, they do another sanitary pruning. This time, rotted and incorrectly growing branches are removed over the summer. At the same time, the shoots that appeared in the current season are shortened.
What rules should be followed
Pruning should be, of course, subject to certain technologies. So, for example:
When pruning branches, you can not leave hemp. It is also not allowed to remove shoots under the very “root”. With this pruning, the tree may even later die due to infection. Trim the apple trees in a ring around the trunk itself. Tissues in this place in fruit trees are composed of cells that can multiply. Therefore, wounds on the rings heal very quickly.
Slices left after removing old branches should be covered with garden varnish immediately. The wounds formed after cutting young shoots are treated after 24 hours, after they have dried.
Pruning apple trees relies using only high-quality sharp tools. When removing shoots with a blunt secateurs or a hacksaw, the bark is too much damaged. Because of this, a subsequent apple tree has to spend a lot of energy on recovery.
How to prune an apple tree correctly
Failure to comply with the established technology when removing branches can lead to disease and death of fruit trees. To prevent this from happening, pruning should be done as follows:
first, under the branch of the apple tree, a small cut is made in the ring;
then the shoot is gently sawed from above.
It often happens that when sawing branches of apple trees simply break and fall down with part of the bark from the trunk. The technology described above avoids such a nuisance.
Saw branches when pruning should not be at right angles, but obliquely. Before removing the thick shoot, you should mentally draw lines along the branch and perpendicular to it. Trimming should be done according to the bisector of the angle obtained.
Thin shoots, of course, it is better not to cut, but cut off with pruning shears. This tool in this case will be more convenient to work. This will reduce the risk of unnecessary damage.
Tips for beginners: when pruning apple trees than to process saw cuts?
Sections remaining after removing unnecessary branches, most often, of course, are smeared with garden var. This tool can be purchased at any store specializing in the sale of country accessories. Garden var should be bought only from good manufacturers. Using a poor-quality product of this variety, unfortunately, can harm the tree.
Instead of gardening, paint can also be used to smear the wounds remaining after trimming. However, in this case it is allowed to use exclusively products made on the basis of drying oil. Other paints can burn wood.
Sometimes saw cuts on apple trees are treated with a mixture of lime and copper sulphate. Such formulations, as well as var, can disinfect wounds and stimulate their rapid healing. A mixture of lime and copper sulfate is prepared for the processing of saw cuts, usually in a proportion of 1:10.
Safety requirements
The answer to the question of how to prune apple trees depends primarily on the objectives of this procedure. But in any case, when filing, you must observe, among other things, safety precautions. Before starting this procedure, you need:
Pruning apple trees if you need to remove thick shoots is worth not only with gloves, but also with glasses. Otherwise, when sawing branches, chips can get into the eyes.
How to do the forming trim
Growing a compact neat apple tree in a summer cottage is not difficult. The first pruning of young trees is usually done in the first growing season. The top of a newly planted annual seedling is removed so that the trunk length is about 80 cm. At the same time, at least 4 live buds are left on the tree.
Two-year-old apple tree seedlings usually have side shoots. In this case, the tip is also removed first. Next, cut the shoots by about a third above the external bud.
In subsequent years, the crown is formed in such a way that in the end it resembles a pyramid tapering upward. When pruning the upper tier of branches, make sure that the top of the tree protrudes above them by about 20-30 cm.
In the second year of planting, overgrown shoots are also usually cut to 1/3. In this case, the central conductor is cut off at a height of about 60 cm above the branches of the formed first tier directly above the kidney. Due to this, a second tier will subsequently be formed on the tree. For the 3rd year, similarly stimulate the growth of shoots of the third tier.
Abnormally growing branches when pruning apple trees are necessarily removed. Such shoots subsequently, under the weight of the harvest, still usually break off. Ultimately, only almost horizontally spaced shoots should remain in the crown of the apple tree. Trees with a crown shaped in this way usually produce the largest yields. They even bloom in spring before the other apple trees on the site.
How do anti-aging pruning
With proper care, the signs of aging in apple trees usually begin to appear on the 30th year after planting. In violation of growing technology, this period may come earlier. In any case, the correct pruning of apple trees can significantly increase the yield of the old tree.
Rejuvenating filing is usually performed in the fall, immediately after falling off the foliage from the tree. You can also do this pruning in the spring before the swelling of the kidneys. In the first year of rejuvenation, all non-bearing, sick, rotten, frozen branches, shoots with brown spots, flaky bark, and corrugated areas are completely removed from the tree.
Next, cut the tree in height and remove several (no more than 3 per year) old thick branches, leaving one of the youngest and healthiest “leaders”. The following year, in spring, all vigorous upper shoots are removed from the tree, leaving one on each strong branch. On this shoot, crop will be formed in the future.
In the autumn of the same year, the height of the apple tree is again slightly reduced. Perform this operation only when necessary. Then cut the skeletal branches. In exactly the same way they do the next year.
Spring pruning
This procedure is usually performed at the end of March. The rules for pruning an apple tree in spring are nothing complicated. From the tree during this period, only frozen or damaged branches are removed. Before proceeding with this procedure, the apple tree is carefully examined.
Frozen branches should be cut so that large wounds do not remain at the same level on opposite sides of the trunk. If there are many such shoots, the few healthy branches remaining on the tree should be shortened by 1/3. In this case, spring pruning of apple trees will be a good incentive for the growth of new high-quality shoots.
Autumn sanitary pruning
At this time of year, improperly growing and broken shoots are usually removed from the trees. In addition, pruning apple trees in the fall involves the following procedures:
By a third in the autumn, branches are cut not only from recently planted trees, but also, if necessary, from 5-7-year-olds.
Column-shaped apple trees: do you need pruning
It is believed that such trees do not need crown formation. And indeed, the crown of columnar apple trees in itself grows quite neat. However, sanitary spring and autumn pruning is needed, of course, and such trees. In this case, damaged branches are usually removed from the apple tree in spring and autumn.
It is also believed that in the fifth year of growth in such fruit crops, the trunk needs to be shortened, replacing it with the strongest new young shoot. Sometimes pruning of colon-shaped apple trees is also carried out during a drought. This allows you to improve the nutrition of the remaining shoots.