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Pruning and training

Limiting the height of fruit trees and methods for controlling water sprouts

For gardeners

2 min read

Excessively tall fruit trees cause a lot of trouble during maintenance. Their upper branches become inaccessible for proper pruning, grow rapidly, and shade the inner part of the canopy. Because of this, the lower branches of the tree gradually become bare. When harvesting, fruits from the tops usually have to be shaken off.

Practice proves that limiting tree height to 2.5–3 meters is fully justified. The total harvest does not decrease, as the illumination of the entire canopy improves and the lower fruiting zones are activated. You can reduce the height of the canopy at any tree age, but the sooner you do it, the better.

  • Optimal tree height — 2.5–3 m
  • Leader cut height — 2–2.5 m
  • Limiting nitrogen nutrition — 2–3 years
  1. Prune the leader at a height of 2–2.5 m above a strong side branch oriented toward the periphery of the canopy.
  2. Prune the remaining branches that grow above 2.5–3 m, transferring them to a lateral branch directed outward.

Reducing the canopy height alone without accompanying thinning will not improve the light regime inside the tree.

Рис. 255. Окончание формирования обрезкой центрального проводника на одиночную боковую ветвь. Все остальные ветви в верхней части кроны также обрезают на перевод на ветви, направленные к периферии.
Fig. 255. Completion of formation by pruning the central leader to a single side branch. All other branches in the upper part of the canopy are also pruned by transferring them to branches directed toward the periphery.
Рис. 256. Ограничение высоты кроны: 1 – у взрослого дерева листовой полог, обрастающая древесина, плодоношение переместились на периферию кроны, центр оголен; 2 – крона снижена, открыт доступ света в глубинные части: обрастание усилилось.
Fig. 256. Canopy height limitation: 1 – in an adult tree, the leaf canopy, fruiting wood, and fruiting have moved to the periphery of the canopy, the center is bare; 2 – the canopy is lowered, access of light to the deep parts is opened: regrowth has intensified.
Рис. 257. Волчкование после снижения кроны тем сильнее, че
Fig. 257. Water sprout formation after canopy reduction is stronger, the

Managing water sprouts after canopy reduction

After canopy reduction, many water sprouts form at the pruning sites of the central leader, main branches, and throughout the upper part of the tree. The number and growth vigor depend directly on how much you have reduced the canopy. Manual removal of water sprouts is long and labor-intensive work, and often several new ones appear in the place of one cut shoot.

To effectively cope with water sprout formation, use a comprehensive approach:

  • Breaking off water sprouts at the very beginning of their growth.
  • Summer pruning of shoots.
  • Bending water sprouts along the row line.
  • Limiting nitrogen nutrition of the orchard for 2–3 years.

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