| Like most people who grow deciduous fruit trees | | | | use a pair of pruning shears to do this, |
| (apples, peaches, plums, cherries, apricots, etc.) I | | | | we’d call it a hard pinch, but what I |
| used to do lots of serious heavy pruning every | | | | started doing was a soft pinch. I merely |
| winter.Each winter I would head back dozens of | | | | pinched off, with my fingers and thumbnail, the |
| those long, tall canes that had grown the year | | | | last inch or two of each fast growing branch. |
| before. On some trees, plums in particular, each | | | | Most of us gardeners have done some pinching of |
| year I’d often find myself cutting back a | | | | geraniums, begonias, and especially fuchsias, trying |
| huge number of new branches, many of them | | | | to make them bushier. It works pretty much the |
| well over six feet in length. | | | | same with fruit trees, too. The more often you |
| I occasionally wondered: Isn’t this hard | | | | pinch, the more bud breaks you get and the |
| pruning cycle putting a big workload on the tree? | | | | bushier your tree becomes. I have found with |
| Each summer the tree pours all its energy into | | | | very vigorous branches that in a season of |
| growing those overly long new branches, and then | | | | growth, I may have to pinch that same branch |
| each winter I’d chop them back, trying to | | | | three or four times, but it seems well worth the |
| keep the tree’s overall height under some | | | | effort. The end result of all this tip pinching is a |
| semblance of control. And then too, despite my | | | | shorter, more compact fruit tree
and one that |
| best intentions and hours of work spent pruning, | | | | won’t need much pruning in winter. The |
| each season the trees still seemed to be a bit | | | | tree benefits too, since it no longer has to pour all |
| taller than the year before. | | | | that energy into re-growing all that wood each |
| However, each winter for decades I kept up this | | | | spring. This same energy can then be converted |
| hard winter pruning, working with the standard | | | | into producing a larger crop of fruit. |
| conventional wisdom that it was necessary in | | | | There is another pleasant benefit, too, from all |
| order to have a decent tree and a good set of | | | | this constant snipping and pinching
fewer bugs. |
| fruit. At the time it made perfect sense to me. | | | | Aphids in particular can be a problem on apricots |
| Because of apical dominance, when a tip is cut | | | | and apple trees, and they almost always take |
| off, the next bud back from what is now the tip, | | | | hold first on the softest, newest, fastest growing |
| this bud will normally sprout next. The topmost | | | | wood. The pinching removes this soft tip, the part |
| bud on any strong branch has high concentrations | | | | most attractive to insects. The pinching also |
| of the natural growth hormone, indole acetic acid | | | | interrupts the natural apical dominance present in |
| (IAA). When we prune grapes (which unlike most | | | | the terminal end of any fast sprouting branch and |
| pomes and stone fruits, set fruit only on new | | | | encourages branching. |
| wood) we have to prune the last year’s | | | | Summer pruning, pinching, isn’t |
| wood hard. We cut back to a few large, strong | | | | recommended for trees that are growing slowly |
| buds. The lower down on the branch a bud is, the | | | | since it will further slow down growth. It is most |
| larger and stronger it is. Thus, heavy pruning | | | | desirable with trees that naturally have a |
| makes plenty of sense with grapes, or others | | | | tendency to get much tall than we want them to |
| that bloom on new wood, figs, mulberries, and | | | | be. Where late spring frosts can be a problem |
| roses. But does this same sort of hard pruning | | | | (with apricots in particular) summer pruning can |
| make sense with most fruit trees, trees that do | | | | result in a tree of a much more manageable size. |
| not set their fruit on the current season’s | | | | Some apricot lovers have now discovered that |
| wood? | | | | with enough summer pinching you can get a |
| About a decade ago I read that in order to save | | | | smaller tree, one that is low enough to throw a |
| money on high labor costs some orchard owners | | | | plastic cover over on those cold spring evenings |
| had resorted to pruning only every other year. | | | | when the branches are loaded with white |
| Yes, they had to cut off more wood, and the | | | | blossoms, but a late frost threatens. But, take |
| pruning work took a bit longer than normal, but | | | | note: be sure to remove the frost cover |
| overall they were saving some money. The | | | | promptly when morning arrives. |
| interesting thing, too, was that this | | | | If a program of summer pinching is undertaken, |
| every-other-year-pruning didn’t seem to | | | | the following winter’s dormant pruning |
| hurt fruit production all that much. | | | | needs will normally be minimal. However, once |
| I myself started this every other year dormant | | | | every few years it would still be a good idea to |
| pruning and it beat pruning every year, but it still | | | | make a limited number of large cuts, cuts that |
| felt wasteful, wasteful of the tree’s stored | | | | remove considerable wood. This would be done to |
| energy. | | | | encourage more vigorous new growth. The |
| Let’s go back to apical dominance for a | | | | reason this would be needed now and then is |
| moment: Because of apical dominance, when a | | | | because most deciduous fruit trees fruit on either |
| branch tip is cut off, the next bud back from the | | | | first or second season’s wood. |
| new tip, this bud should sprout next. The lower | | | | Dormant pruning would still be used to remove |
| the branch is, the thicker the branch will be, and | | | | any dead wood, criss-crossing branches, and to |
| these lower placed dormant buds will also be | | | | shape the tree. If there is a large branch that |
| larger and potentially much more vigorous. Thus | | | | needs removing, the time to do that is always in |
| heavy pruning, chopping back to these fat lower | | | | the dormant season. One word here about |
| buds insures lots of vigorous new growth and | | | | dormant pruning of fruit trees: in mild winter |
| makes plenty of sense with grapes, and of | | | | USDA zones 8-10 it is best to do your dormant |
| course with roses, which also bloom on new | | | | pruning just after Christmas. In colder winter |
| wood. But apples, pears, apricots, plums, peaches, | | | | areas it is safest to delay dormant pruning until |
| nectarines and cherries don’t set fruit on | | | | the worst of the winter’s cold has passed. |
| new wood, they all bloom on wood that is at | | | | Thus in a very cold zone 3, such as in northern |
| least a year old. | | | | Minnesota, the best time to prune fruit trees |
| A few years ago I made a major switch and | | | | would be in March or early in April. |
| started doing almost exclusively summer pruning, | | | | But summer pruning, pinching, can be done all |
| pinching really. Every few weeks from mid-spring | | | | summer long. The results will please you and the |
| on, whenever I noticed a new branch growing | | | | tree both. So get out there, and pinch an inch. |
| rapidly, I pinched off the end of it. If you had to | | | | |