TIME TO TRIM and train

Surely fruit pruning is something we do in the winter months. Not so, says nurseryman David Patch as he explains why summer pruning is also essential

- David Patch

Many people associate fruit tree pruning with winter. It’s a task to be carried out in the cold, dark days of December when there is little else we can productively do in the garden, and is a way of preparing for the year ahead. However, there are several reasons why we should keep our secateurs handy all through the long summer months and prune a wide variety of both top and soft fruit plants, to ensure healthy trees and bigger crops to come.

It can be a little complicated – different plants need pruning at different times and for different reasons – but we’ll start by looking at some basic principles about why we should be pruning, before moving on to a handy month-by-month guide of what to do and when.

WHY PRUNE IN SUMMER?

Summer pruning restricts growth. In essence, the tree has spent the first part of the season putting all its energy into producing new stems and leaves, and if we prune around July/August we’ll be taking all that energy out of the plant. We’re removing foliage which the tree uses to photosynthesise and produce nutrients (primarily glucose) as a food source for its future growth. So summer pruning is essential for slightly more mature trees where we want to keep them under control and to the size available in the garden.

Basically, summer prune and you should never have the issue of a huge 30ft high ‘Bramley’ apple tree, with all the fruit out of reach and the tree taking up too much space. You can be quite severe with this pruning, taking all the new growth back to just one new bud – so the height of the tree will only increase by a few centimetres each year.

SUMMER PRUNING FRUIT TREES STEP BY STEP