Garden Studios

Novice gardeners often think fruit trees are loads of work, but really the elemental rules are quite simple (especially if you’re growing standard apples or pears, instead of elaborately trained cordons or espaliers). Pruning is completed between November and mid-March, when the tree is dormant and leafless, unless it’s a normal plum or cherry, that’s best not pruned in any respect (do it in early summer if it’s essential).

Routine pruning

Start by “opening up” the centre of the tree to let in additional light and air. First, use secateurs or a pruning saw to chop out any water shoots (long, thin straight shoots) from the purpose where they grow out of the branch or trunk. Next, use a pruning saw to take away any small branches that grow inwards, towards the centre of the tree. Cut these back to the purpose where they join a bigger, outward-growing branch. 

Now work your way around the outside of the tree, trying to find branches which are too close together or which rub against one another in windy weather so the bark is being chafed. Don’t bother snipping twigs – it’s better to take away an entire small branch to thin out an overcrowded component of the tree, leaving the remainder fairly well spaced out. 

Lastly, look the tree over, checking for outline shape, and shorten any branches that stick out badly in a single direction. Use the pruning saw to trim them back to the junction with a well-placed branch in order that the form of the tree is improved. Don’t leave projecting stubs, as they die back and spread disease.

Rejuvenating an elderly unproductive fruit tree

A tree hasn’t necessarily reached the top of its useful life simply because it doesn’t produce much fruit, looks craggy or is roofed with lichen. Careful attention can bring it back into useful cropping, but after all it can be worth preserving for the nature it lends the garden.

Prune as described above, but only do some each winter over several years. quite a few very hard pruning abruptly just encourages plenty of water shoots to grow, and these are useless as they spoil the look of the tree and don’t carry fruit for a few years. Don’t try to convert a gnarled old tree to a standard shape. Instead, enjoy its eccentric charm – you can’t buy ’em like that. 

To encourage new growth, clear a two-yard-wide circle of bare soil all around the tree and keep it free from weeds. In spring, mulch this area heavily with well-rotted manure or garden compost, and in April sprinkle a generous dose of general-purpose fertiliser equivalent to blood, fish and bone everywhere in the mulched area, and water it in if the soil is dry. Repeat the feed in midsummer, around June, again watering if the soil is dry. Don’t remove lichen – it’s not doing any harm and adds character.

If the tree produces heavy crops that weigh the branches down badly, hold them up with forked wooden supports, like old-fashioned clothes props. You may leave these in place year-round and use them to support clematis or climbing roses, that could then scramble up in the course of the tree. 

Even a fully unproductive tree can be utilized as a support for several climbers, instead of cutting it down. Dig an enormous planting hole for every climber about six feet from the bottom of the trunk to bypass the tree roots, infill with good topsoil and garden compost for the reason that soil should be impoverished, and plant into that. Use leaning branches or dangling rope to guide each climber up into the tree branches. Once in place, they’re going to scramble without help and – better of all – won’t need any pruning in any respect.