Late winter is an ideal time for pruning many trees, and fruit trees are no exception. Regularly trimming away damaged and unsightly branches is key to maintaining a healthy tree with an aesthetically pleasing shape. It also triggers a hormonal response that promotes healing and regrowth — things we want to encourage ahead of spring.
In the case of fruit trees, pruning offers additional benefits.
“You want to increase airflow and sunlight. If you do need to spray your fruit trees, they’ll be easier to spray,” said LSU AgCenter fruit and nut specialist Michael Polozola. “But it also helps because you’ll also need to spray them less because you’ll rely on nature to help reduce that disease pressure by having that good airflow and sunlight to prevent humid pockets.”
Pruning to maximize sunlight penetration also helps produce more and sweeter fruit, Polozola said, as the increased light exposure enhances the fruit’s development and sugar content.
The process of pruning fruit trees is different than pruning other trees. Fruit trees don’t always grow in a form that is conducive to producing lots of fruit or resisting disease pressure. They often need to be trained into a better shape.
It’s easiest to accomplish this while trees are young and have yet to bear fruit. The goal, in general, is to ensure branches are evenly distributed on the trunk and to avoid narrow crotches, which are prone to breakage. But there’s not a one-size-fits-all approach.
“Each fruit tree species needs a little bit different training strategy,” Polozola said.
For most fruit trees, pruning keeps their height in check so it’s easier to harvest. It also helps avoid low-hanging branches that may get too close to the ground when laden with fruit.
Below is Polozola’s advice on pruning and training the shape of some common fruit trees as well as pecans, which we usually think of as nuts but actually are drupes, a type of fruit.
Peach: Polozola recommends training these trees in the open center or vase form, which features three or four main limbs that grow outward. After you bring home peach trees from the nursery, you should prune them to a single stem that’s about 3 feet tall. You may have to cut off a good bit of growth to achieve this, but that’s OK, even if it looks severe.
Pruning trees back will force new branches to grow. Polozola suggests using limb spacers to train the new growth to go in three to four different directions.
Fig: Figs can be pruned in either tree or bush forms. Polozola recommends following the open center method to achieve a tree form in south Louisiana.
But the tree form can be more sensitive to winter cold damage, so a bush form with multiple trunks is better for north Louisiana, he said. To grow figs as bushes, cut young trees back to about half their original height before transplanting. Prune shoots that grow upward while keeping those that grow outward.
Apple: The modified central leader technique is ideal for apple trees. Cut off upper branches that may meet the trunk at narrow angles to encourage new limbs to grow.
“You’re going to work on training out scaffold limbs,” Polozola said. “Limbs that come out at 90 degrees are stronger and easier for sunlight and air to get through.”
Citrus: Citrus trees typically don’t need a lot of pruning. But feel free to remove branches that are crossing each other and any thorny rootstock. You also can prune to control height to make it easier to protect trees during cold weather.
Pecan: “Pecans are completely different,” Polozola said. “These we’re aiming to get really tall. These we are pruning lower limbs a little bit up every year to push the fork up.”
For more information on fruit trees, check out “The Louisiana Home Orchard,” a free publication available on the AgCenter website at www.lsuagcenter.com/LAHomeOrchard.
You’ll find helpful diagrams and detailed instructions for pruning various trees as well as grape and muscadine vines and blackberry plants.
The publication also includes advice on choosing and planting fruit trees, recommended cultural practices and common pest problems.
