Pruning the apple tree: when and how to do it correctly

Apple trees belong to those fruit trees that love plentiful natural light and do not tolerate stagnation of air inside the crown. Successfully solving these two problems helps the gardener pruning. Pruning an apple tree is an important process, when and how to do it correctly, every gardener needs to know. This procedure creates favorable conditions for the rejuvenation of the tree, create the best, optimal conditions for the full development, rid it of dangerous insects and improve the appearance of the crown.

When and how?

Novice gardeners often ask when to prune an apple tree and how to do it correctly. Any time of the year is suitable for this procedure, it all depends on the goals and objectives that the owner of the garden faces. Spring pruning or lapping, for example, helps free the tree from branches that have not survived winter temperature changes. Work in the summer allows you to delay the flowering of the tree for the next season. Apple trees are also cut in the fall, in order to prepare for the upcoming winter, and even in winter. Consider the features of the procedure in each season.

Spring pruning

When embarking on a kashirovka in the spring, the gardener must consider that the circulation of juice in the tree has begun. Careless actions can cause death of the tree. Trimming is performed to solve a number of problems:

Crown Organization

The procedure begins with the identification and, of course, the removal of branches that died due to winter frosts. Next - the actual cropping. For the apple tree, according to experts, the bushy shape of the crown is best suited. This option will give the tree stability, eliminating the possibility of deformation under the weight of ripening and ripe fruits, as well as facilitate harvesting.

Recovery

If the winter turned out to be severe, with frequent changes in temperature, with the onset of spring, a large number of dead branches form on the trees. Together with old and excess branches, they make the tree heavier and prevent it from getting ready for fruiting in a short time.

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When pruning an apple tree in the spring, it is important to decide not only when to do this, but how to do it correctly on the trees of the first three years of life and older.

In spring, young seedlings are necessarily subjected to basic crown formation. Ignoring this rule will complicate the achievement of optimal shape and height for fruiting. Crohn should not be thick. The pruning procedure is carried out for four years annually, and then every two years. The basis is formed of five to six branches (the largest). The height of the stem varies from 40 to 50 cm. The central branch must be shortened.

As for old trees, lamination begins with the removal of shoots growing inside. The total mass of the removed parts is not more than one third of the volume of branches. They are not removed immediately, but over three years.

Summer pruning

Laminating in summer is recommended in those regions where late frosts are often recorded. This will help protect the buds from freezing.

Giving an answer to the question of when exactly in the summer to prune an apple tree and how to do it correctly, experts pay attention to the age factor. Its accounting allows you to correctly select the pattern of lamination.

For example, trees that have not yet produced fruit are pruned according to a minimal pattern. Skeletal branches are laid low so that after a few years it is easy to harvest.All processes that interfere with future fruiting are removed at an acute angle. But this should not be done actively, in small portions. Acceleration of the rate of removal of the shoots is possible only after two to three years of fruiting. And the countdown is from the year of the first lamination. The measures described will allow you to get large fruits of high taste. The removal of dry and diseased branches works on the same task.

As for the old trees. About the need for pruning, the gardener will be prompted by a decrease in growth - less than 30 cm. As well as a decrease in yield. The branches located at right angles to the trunk are removed.

Autumn pruning

Experienced gardeners know that in the fall, pruning of the apple tree is done when the leaves fall, and how to produce it so as not to harm the tree.

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Autumn lamination is performed according to one of three schemes:

• weak
• average;
• strong.

The first scheme is ideal for young apple trees. Only those shoots that have grown over the year are cut off. In the spring, new young branches will take their place, which will become the basis of the future crown, subject to competent care.

For trees between the ages of five and seven years, average lamination is appropriate. Spend it exclusively on mature branches - this is the basis for increasing the number of fruit-bearing branches. Be sure to remove dried shoots. The branches are cut to the first kidney, the place of cutting is filed at a right angle and treated with a special garden mortar, which forms a protective film. In wet weather, the procedure is carried out two to three times.

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Winter pruning

Speaking about when to prune the apple tree and how to do it correctly, many even experienced gardeners doubt the feasibility of laminating in the winter. Strictly speaking, the procedure can be carried out at any time when there are no obvious signs of active co-creation.

Laminating in severe frosts, when the ambient temperature drops to minus 15, is strictly contraindicated. Such conditions cause brittleness of the bark, which makes it easy to damage.

For the procedure, it is better to choose the most winter-hardy varieties. For example, Fragrant, Antonovka and others. Trees with medium winter hardiness are also lined, but provided that in the fall the soil was cultivated, fertilized and abundantly watered.

If the above conditions are met, pruning in the winter season has several advantages:

• branch removal requires less physical effort;
• practically reduced to zero risk of such a phenomenon as scoring of the cortex;
• the absence of foliage makes it easy to select a cropping pattern.

The risks of winter procedures by specialists include the likelihood of frostbite of the cut site.

When carrying out work in winter, climatic zones should be taken into account. Trees growing in the south can be pruned in the last days of the first month of the year. A temperate climate sets different dates - the third decade of February or, as much as possible, the first days of March.

Young trees that have not reached the age of three and have not yet yielded crops are held in the time frames indicated for the temperate zone. It is recommended to produce only sanitary kashir, which was not made in the fall. Other types of work are carried out only under the condition of a stably warm winter. The main task should be the removal of shoots growing inside.

A warm, sunny day is suitable for the procedure. The temperature that is best suited is minus 8. A pruner is used to remove thin branches.Thick branches will require the use of a hacksaw.

Winter lining of the apple tree helps fight parasites that go under the bark during the winter.