Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 16, 1992 TAG: 9202170259
SECTION: HOMES PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: John Arbogast
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
TIME RIGHT TO PRUNE FRUIT TREES
Annual pruning is necessary for most fruit trees to produce regular crops of acceptable sized fruit. During the middle to late dormant season now, is an excellent time to do this.Backyard growers may be reluctant to do cutting or pruning on a fruit tree for fear of hurting or killing it, but this fear is unwarranted. Proper pruning invigorates trees and extends their bearing life.
The most important reasons for pruning fruit trees are to control tree size, to allow sunlight penetration into the tree and to ensure fruiting, which of course is the main reason for growing fruit trees. Sanitation also is important, because pruning should take out all limbs that are broken, diseased or dead.
Because it's not possible to give a fruit-tree pruning demonstration in this column, home orchardists can simplify pruning by standing back to look at the dormant tree structure and considering:
How sunlight will be able to get through after the leaves are out.
On what parts of the branches have the fruit crops appeared in past seasons.
Remember that the sole source of energy for plant growth is sunlight. In general, all parts of a fruit tree should receive a minimum of 30 percent full sunlight in order to produce large, tasty, well-colored fruit. Therefore, we know that a certain amount of pruning is required in the top half of each fruit tree to allow adequate light penetration.
There are two pruning phases in the life of a fruit tree. The first is training young trees during their first five years. During this phase, the goal should be to produce trees with strong side branches (structure) and to provide easy access for thinning and harvesting fruits while developing as much branch area as possible to bear fruits. The second phase is pruning fruit trees over five years old (mature trees) to maintain fruiting areas, encourage new growth of branch portions that make fruit, ensure that fruiting can occur throughout the tree and to reduce the size of the fruit crop so that those fruits that are produced will be better.
With all these things in mind, let's look at what may be the two most popular fruit trees for the home garden - apples and peaches. Apple trees can produce fruit on the same branch areas for years. The apple grower is not as concerned with encouraging a lot of new growth each year as he or she is with light penetration and the location and quality of growth. A lot of pruning on a mature apple tree is done to thin out areas where the growth has become crowded. Apple trees often are maintained in the "central leader" form, which means that there should be a single, strong, vertical trunk with side branches coming out along that central axis. The ideal central leader form is like a Christmas tree, where the top is narrower than the bottom.
Peach trees, on the other hand, make their fruit during the spring and summer on wood that was produced the previous year and are usually trained in the "open center" or "vase shape" form. This means that there should be a short trunk giving rise to three to five main branches that extend outward between a horizontal and 45-degree angle. Peach trees need to be pruned every year to remove some of the length of the previous year's growth so the peach crop that season will not be so abundant that branches will break, to maintain the open center where light can penetrate and to thin out and cut back inside branches.
Got a question about your garden, lawn, plants, or insects? Write to Dear John, c/o the Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010-2491.
Take soil tests now
To get ready for this year's vegetable garden, take a soil test just as soon as the soil is workable. Even though the Soil Lab at Virginia Tech now charges $6 for the test, the improved garden plus the savings in unnecessary fertilizing make the effort worthwhile. Soil test boxes, information sheets to be filled out and instructions are available at local Extension Service Offices throughout the state.
In our area, soil should be tested at least once every three years. Results usually are mailed back to owners in a matter of days, rather than weeks that the old system used to take. It's a good time to take soil tests from the lawn, landscape and flower beds also.
Gardener's checklist
Jobs for late February:
Remove honeysuckle and other weedy vines from deciduous plants now.
To make old hay and manure weed-free for use in the garden, spread them on the soil in late winter, water well and cover with black plastic. Weed seeds will sprout in a few days of warm weather, then will be killed by frost and lack of light.
> Before working an area in the garden for early spring planting, check the soil. It should be dry enough to crumble in your hand before you begin.
John Arbogast is the agriculture extension agent for Roanoke