GOOD TIME FOR PRUNING
Most
fruit bushes and trees can be pruned any time in the dormant season from now
till mid March. I tend to keep this task for times when it is frosty or there
is a snow covering and other outdoor tasks are curtailed. As long as you wear
plenty warm clothes cold should not be too much of a problem. Pruning of
raspberries, currants, gooseberries, saskatoons, brambles, outdoor grape vines
as well as apples, pears, peaches and cherries can all be tackled, but don’t
prune the plum trees. There is always a risk of infection from spores of the
silver leaf fungus so leave them till late spring.
Prunings
can all be shredded then added to the compost heap as they will rot down in
time, when mixed with other plant materials such as leaves and grass clippings.
Top fruit
Pruning
of apples and pears depend on type of tree grown whether it is a bush, or one
with a restricted growth such as spur pruned stepover, fan, cordon or espalier.
The first priority is to create the basic shape of tree, then after that has
been achieved pruning is done to encourage a balance between good growth and
fruiting.
Trees can
be grown as standards or bushes where height is kept down so picking can be
done without ladders or climbing up the tree. I prune my young trees with
secateurs, but my large mature Bramley apple gets pruned with loppers and a
saw. Keep branches well spaced to allow plenty of light in to ripen up
developing fruit. Any branches growing upright or too tall are cut back. This
encourages fresh strong growth which then gets thinned out. Remaining branches
are then allowed to fruit for the next three to five years before they get too
big and have to be cut down. However always make sure the tree has a good wine
glass shape overall.
Restricted
growth trees get spur pruned in winter cutting back most young shoots to a few
buds from their base. These would previously have been summer pruned to ripen
up the shoots. Where ever growth requires to be extended the leading shoots
should be shortened by about a third of their length.
Soft fruit bushes
If
blackcurrants were not pruned immediately after picking they can be done now by
removing old wood which has fruited cutting it back to a young shoot lower down
the bush.
Redcurrants
are spur pruned cutting all shoots to a couple of buds and leaving a framework
of about eight main shoots. These are replaced over time with new shoots.
Gooseberries
are also spur pruned, but first remove any low branches near ground level as
well as those growing in the middle of the bush. This will assist harvesting on
those bushes with vicious thorns determined to cause a bloodbath to pickers
hands.
Summer
fruiting raspberries have the old canes cut out to leave this years young canes
which will crop next year. Autumn fruiting raspberry canes are cut right down
to a few buds at ground level.
Saskatoons
only need a few tall shoots to be removed to ground level so they can send up
fresh shoots to fruit for the next four to five years.
Plant of the week
Mahonia Charity is also known as the Oregon grape
is a very hardy evergreen shrub growing ten or more feet tall in time. It
produces clusters of long racemes of yellow flowers in late autumn and into
winter. They are said to be scented, but I cannot say perfume is one of their
strong points, though the bright yellow flowers are very welcome in November
and December.
Mahonias
are very popular as ground cover as they will smother out most weeds, and
height can be managed with occasional pruning of straggling shoots in spring
after flowering.
They are
very easy to grow as they like most soils and will be just as happy in shade as
in full sun.
END
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