Ideally, the portion of branch left should be about 0.25-inch-long, just above the branch collar. A cut into the branch bark ridge is too close (above). Also eliminate spurs or branches that grow downward.Īvoid leaving long stubs when pruning, but don’t cut too close to the remaining branch either. If branches are closely parallel to each other or cross, remove the weakest branch of the pair. Remove branches that form too narrow an angle to be corrected with a limb spreader. Remove any dead or broken branches, suckers and water sprouts. Controlling the number and position of scaffold branches, along with fruit thinning, will result in a healthier tree and higher quality fruit. Fruit trees with many branches can bear more fruit than they can ripen.

The tree canopy requires training to allow leaves to be exposed to sunlight so they can make sugars for tree growth and fruit production. Each year, pruning and training is needed to produce high quality fruit and maintain tree health. Side branches need to have wide angles of attachment to the trunk to be strong.

To help control crop load and maintain fruitĪpple and pear trees are usually pruned to a central leader (main trunk) and scaffold (side) branches (Figure 1).

To control the size of the tree and distribution of branches.Why do fruit trees need to be pruned and trained?

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