Winter is a great time to prune most deciduous fruit trees, berries, fruiting bushes and vines.
Always choose a sunny day, as this reduces the risk of diseases being spread in damp weather, and clean your tools between trees. A spray bottle of Methylated spirits is a great way to disinfect your tools after each tree.
Try not to trim more than 1/3 of the trees growth off. If the pile of prunnings on the ground is the same size as the trees, stop, put your cutters down. There is always next year.
First of all, take out the three ‘D’s of prunning. Dead wood, diseased wood, and damaged wood. Then concentrate on the shape of the tree.
The “vase-shaped” method of pruning is suitable for all deciduous pip and stone fruit. The final shape should resemble a wide-angled V shape similar to a wine goblet. The aim is to select three or four branches at least 50cm above the ground and each pointing in a different direction. These will become the main leaders of the future tree and will be subdivided again in later years to form sub leaders.
Choose the best side branches and cut the main stem back to above the level of the highest side branch selected. Prune the outside shoots to an outside bud all at about the same level. If your tree is young and doesn’t have enough side branches, cut the main stem back to approximately 1m and select suitable branches the next year. This is a better option than using inferior branches.
During the early years of the tree’s life, it is important to develop a framework that is sufficiently strong and capable of bearing the weight of crops borne.
We try to keep our trees trimmed to around 2.5m tall, which means you don’t have to climb on ladders to get to the fruit.
For evergreen fruit trees such as Feijoa, Macadamia, Guavas, thin out the tree rather than giving it the hedge trimmer cut. Thinning out branches will let more light into the tree, which in turn will be larger sweeter fruit.
Be sure to remove any decaying fruit, leaves and your pruned branches as these harbour overwintering pests and disease.
Pest Control
Winter is an important time to treat fruiting trees to prevent problems during the season ahead.
Pest Oil / All Seasons Oil – Used on stone-fruits, apples, pears and ornamentals for the control of scale, aphids, spider mite and mealy bugs.
Copper Sprays applied in winter are effective against a number of diseases that attack fruit trees. Peach leaf curl affects the shoots, flowers, foliage and fruit of peaches and nectarines. Fire blight primarily attacks pome fruit trees, such as apples and pears, although it can affect other plants.
Timing of applying Copper Sprays is important and should be sprayed whilst the tree is dormant and again at pink bud stage when rain is not expected within 24 hours. Pink bud stage is when the buds swell prior to opening.
Kaipara Coast Plant Centre runs a pruning class every winter. To book, go to our events page and book your place.
You must be logged in to post a comment.