Why prune fruit trees and plants?
- tomatoesanddaisies
- Jan 28, 2016
- 2 min read
I actually never realised that fruit trees and soft fruit plants needed pruning! I always thought that they were only cut back to stop them from taking over and growing out of control and also that they could be cut at anytime of the year. Only after my neighbours on the allotment mentioned pruning, did it start to dawn on me that my: Apple, Pear, Plum and Cherry trees and also my: Raspberry, Tayberry, Blackcurrant and Blueberry plants all needed pruning. Then they said that it is better to prune at certain times of the year depending on the plant. My first thought was- why? and then my second thought was - I have too much other things to be getting on with to be worrying about that! Then just the other day when I was down the allotment I saw a little package hidden in my mini greenhouse. I took it out and saw it was a Christmas present in a ziplock bag and it was from one of my allotment friends. It was a book on Pruning! I thought how sweet that my friend had come and hidden it before Christmas for me to find. Since reading it I have found out the reasons why pruning is necessary:
To maintain form and shape of the plant
To train plant to grow in a specific direction
Removal of disease, dead and damaged shoots/ branches to keep plant healthy
To increase flower or berry/fruit production
Enhancing foliage
The reason that there is a specific time in the year to prune plants and trees is that depending on the plant and season, there can be a risk of a disease or fungus getting into the plant through the site of pruning, and it could also be detrimental to the production of fruit and flowers. There may be more reasons but there is enough information for me to start pruning my fruit trees and plants. Obviously I want an abundant amount of healthy fruit so I now need to read about each specific plant and tree so I know what I need to do and when. Here is a photo of my raspberry plant that did not produce any fruit last year and I have not yet pruned it. Im hoping that this year it may be more productive:
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