Autumn apple pruning scheme for beginners

Timely pruning of fruit trees along with top dressing provides longevity of the plant, as well as yield at a high level. It is necessary to prune apple trees in autumn according to the scheme in order to do everything correctly. Otherwise, you can significantly reduce nutrition, which will directly affect the number of fruits. Also, trees will not be protected from pests and all sorts of diseases. And failure to comply with deadlines leads to permanent damage to the cortex.

Need to trim

Quite often in the garden plots you can see trees that are not pruned. The owners do not consider this necessary, and then they get a low yield. As a result, to increase the number of fruits, you have to cut large branches, which greatly harms the apple tree.

Trimming is a must. It is best to carry out it regularly from the moment of landing. The purpose of such an event is:

• Apple tree height adjustment.
• The formation of the crown of the tree of the necessary shape.
• Strengthening the branches.
• Winter hardiness increase.
• The fruits are getting better.
• Adjust the number of apples.
• Rejuvenation of the plant.
• Increased fruiting duration.
• Using cropping, you can create the necessary lighting for the crown.
• Relief during leavingas well as when harvesting.
• Removing unnecessary branches, such as patients.

It is also possible that there will be many fruits, but they will all have small sizes. Without enough sunlight, apples cannot be sweet. Too shaded places are a hotbed for all kinds of pests. The tree will spend all its strength on useless shoots.

Best time

It is important for any gardener to know when to prune apple trees, in which month, in the fall or in the spring. Serious disputes of various specialists are still underway about this. There are people who believe that it is better to carry out the procedure in the fall. And there are those who think that in the spring. All make quite a few good arguments in favor of their theory.

Adherents of the spring procedure say that if it is carried out in the fall, this will lead to a weakening of the tree. Only winter-hardy varieties can be cut in autumn, since they tolerate frosts well and do not undergo freezing.

The best time for spring pruning is considered to be very early spring. It must be produced before the sap flow begins.:

• The most suitable is the choice of such a period so that a minimum of time passes between the beginning of sap flow and pruning.
• During circumcision in the spring, the protective mechanisms of the apple tree have already been activated, but various pathogens are not so active.

Pruning apple trees in autumn must be done on time. At this time, the protective mechanisms begin to slow down, and there are still a lot of various harmful microflora. If you are late for the event, then the wounds do not have time to heal. In winter, the cambium will begin to knock out.

Tools Required

To perform high-quality trimming, you must use the right tool. Old stupid equipment is better not to use. You should also remember the safety rules.

For a haircut, you need the following:

• Secateurs that have a ratchet mechanism. It is necessary for trimming branches of medium thickness - 20 mm in diameter.
• The usual secateurs for cutting young shoots.
• Secateurs on long handles. It will help not to use a stepladder when removing branches located above human growth.
• Garden Saw. It is needed to cut old thick branches that cannot be cut off by secateurs.
• Garden knife. Intended for stripping bark or wood.

Sections whose diameter does not exceed 10 mm usually do not need to be processed. The open surface of the wood, which has a large area, should be covered with ordinary oil paint or with a mixture of clay and mullein. If a thick branch, which is skeletal, was cut, then this place will need to be processed regularly until it grows. It must be remembered that at low temperatures you can not use garden var.

Performing the procedure in the fall

For beginners, pruning an apple tree in the fall is quite a challenge. But this is not at all true. It is only necessary to have a theoretical basis. Thinning a tree can be done in different ways.

 

Depending on the task, apply:

• Weak pruning. Branches that managed to grow over the past year are shortened by 25%.
• Average. Cut off a third of the length that has grown over the season.
• Strong. Branches are shortened by 50%.

The branches of young seedlings, the age of which is less than 5 years, are cut by a quarter. The middle one is used when it is necessary to form a crown in adult trees (5-7 years). Old apple trees are pruned heavily for rejuvenation. This helps the fruit to ripen on the remaining branches.

You need to correctly prune the apple tree in the fall. The scheme includes the following:

• Removing damaged as well as dry shoots.
• Create a rarer crown. It is necessary to cut off all weak branches and those that grow at a very sharp angle to the trunk of the apple tree. All competing branches should be deleted, leaving only one.

It is advisable to burn the trimmings. This will destroy the remaining pests.

The most commonly used pruning apple tree on the ring. A ring is a tree influx that is located near the base of the main branch. The cut must be done on the outer edge. So the tree will be much easier to restore this place. If you cut off the shoot close to the trunk, the wound will heal for a very long time. There is a possibility that a hollow or a shell will appear in that place. This will harm the apple tree. The bark will gradually begin to exfoliate, and the wood will rot.

If two shoots come out of one place, then they form a kind of fork. One of them needs to be deleted. To do this, trim to the side branch. If the branch is not thick, use a regular pruner.

Rejuvenation of apple trees

Anti-aging pruning should be done only for old trees, whose age exceeds 20 years. Before starting this procedure, you should make sure that the trunk is completely viable, and that the main branches are not affected by all sorts of diseases and decay. The crown should be divided into zones. Her rejuvenation is carried out over several years.One zone is cropped in one season. So the tree will have time to recover after a rather traumatic operation.

 

Branches should be cut according to these rules:

• In the first year, removal is done on the south side.
• Next year, branches are cut from the second side. Trimming of new shoots, which managed to form on the first side of the season, is also performed. Only vertically growing shoots are removed.

You need to cut off all the branches that grow inward and vertically. Dry, sick, and those that do not produce fruit are also removed. This contributes to the promotion of the crown. It should not be forgotten that during rejuvenation the best solution would be to cut off one large branch than many small ones.

Next, the center of the crown:

• The trunk is shortened. This must be done at a height of 3 m from the stem.
• Remove branches growing above young shoots.
• Everything that grows in the center is cut off. About 10 branches left from the center are left.

Dwarf varieties

When a dwarf apple tree is planted in autumn, pruning is also carried out at the same time. This is necessary for the formation of the crown.

It is necessary to cut the upper branches by about 25−35%. It depends on the size of the root system. A small number of roots requires more pruning.

Next year you need to thin out the branches of the first order. Then, shoots will come out of them, which will become branches of the second order. Care must be taken to ensure that they are located only on the outside of the crown. The shoots, which are unsuitable for the formation of the crown, are cut at a distance of 30 cm from the column.

A feature of dwarf varieties is a large number of fruits, but only on shoots, whose age does not exceed 4 years. Therefore, you need to carry out the pruning procedure on time. If after 5 years the number of apples has decreased, and the fruits themselves have decreased, then it will be necessary to perform rejuvenation.

To help beginners

For beginners pruning apple trees is a rather difficult task. With a lack of experience, difficulties or errors may appear.

It must be remembered that a young apple tree (about 3 years old) cannot be pruned heavily. You can only perform forming, as well as regulatory trimming. If the apple tree is very shortened, the new shoots will begin to grow vertically, which will significantly thicken the crown. There will be few apples, and quality will also drop.

During good fruiting, you need to change the main fruit-bearing branches in the crown area every few years. If there are too many of them, there will be a risk of damage to the tree by all kinds of fungi, diseases and parasites. This will significantly degrade the yield, as well as the quality of the fruit of the tree.