Do your apple trees look a little, well, worse for wear after the long winter? Or maybe your peach trees seem a little less than perky?
If so, you’re in luck. It’s not too late to prune fruit trees, according to University of Maine pomology professor Renae Moran, who works at the college’s research facility at Highmoor Farm in Monmouth.
“It’s still a good time to prune fruit trees, but people should try to finish up pruning their apples and pears before they break bud,” she said Wednesday, adding that stone fruit trees such as plums, peaches and cherries can be pruned anytime in the month of April. “In my opinion, pruning is good for the tree.”
There are a lot of reasons why that’s the case, she said. Left unchecked, trees have a natural tendency to grow too many shoots and large branches, which can impede sunlight from getting to the lower branches, according to a helpful, comprehensive primer on pruning that is published online by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.
“Trees with an open, well-lit canopy grow larger fruit compared to trees that grow into a thicket,” the primer states.
Trees that are unchecked also can grow so tall that the fruit is difficult — or sometimes impossible — to harvest. Just think of old, overgrown apple orchards, where the fruit can look tempting but is so high off the ground it is likely to remain under the jurisdiction of birds and other animals. Trees also can be pruned so that they have a certain shape, and pruning is the standard way to remove dead branches. Experts such as Moran say the best time to prune fruit trees is from the late winter into early spring, when it will have the smallest impact on the health of the tree.
There are many techniques for pruning, according to the Cooperative Extension experts. A first step is to look at the tree from all angles to find crowded spots with too many branches, dead branches and to get a feel for the shape of the tree. If the tree is very tall, it is best to hire a professional to get it down to a manageable size before tackling it, the primer reads. Moran and other tree experts suggest using safety glasses to protect your eyes from injury by branches, and if a tree happens to have grown into power lines, landowners are strongly urged to contact the power company to correct the problem before pruning.
Pruners should start by removing all dead limbs and branches and should take off the larger limbs before doing more detailed work. To remove limbs and large branches, the Cooperative Extension guidelines suggest using hand saws and pole saws and to avoid climbing trees or standing on old branches that could easily break. People are encouraged to use a tripod ladder or a pole saw to reach the highest branches. To remove small branches and do more detailed pruning, experts recommend using loppers with a bypass blade or bypass hand pruners.
“It is a lot of work to prune trees,” Moran said. “And the cleanup afterwards sometimes takes more time than the pruning.”
She said the orchards look good right now, which bodes well for the possibility of having a good fruit harvest later this year.
“This winter was good for the fruit trees. It was consistently cold. And when it’s cold, they can tolerate the subzero temperatures much better,” she said. “I’ve been noticing that the trees are tougher than normal.”
