Pruning the home orchard

              1Extension Fruit Specialist, Department of Extension Plant Sciences, New Mexico State University.
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL, CONSUMER AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
aces.nmsu.edu/pubs • Cooperative Extension Service • Guide H-327
Pruning the Home Orchard
Revised by Shengrui Yao1
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PRUNING BASICS
Fruit trees are pruned to regulate growth, increase yield, and improve fruit size and quality. Pruning is used to shape trees for ease of management and to repair damage. Many home gardeners also do pruning for decorative purposes. How you prune your trees affects the way they grow and how much they fruit.
Most pruning is done during the dormant season in late winter or spring, just before active growth begins. In north and central New Mexico, February to early March would be good time to prune. At this time, pruning wounds heal fast, flower buds are easily recognized, and injury from low winter temperatures may be avoided. In some areas, due to disease pressure, peaches have to be pruned after leafing, but not in New Mexico.
Pruning is also done in summer to train young trees to the desired shape, re­move watersprouts and other undesirable growth, and maintain smaller tree size.
Basic pruning cuts
Before we get to the pruning details, here are three basic types of pruning cuts:
• Pinching: removes new growth near the ends of shoots (apical meristem) while it is still young and succulent.
• Heading cut: removes part—but not all—of a branch or shoot, which will stimulate new growth (Figure 1).
• Thinning cut: removes an entire shoot or branch at the base (at its point of origin), which does not stimulate new growth (Figure 1).
Where to cut and wound dressing
When pruning trees, make the final cut close to the branch collar (the point where a branch joins the trunk or another branch). The branch collar is the wrinkled, swollen area at the base of the branch that contains tissue that will become active and seal the cut wound. It is critical to first remove most of the branch by making an undercut first, a few inches away from the trunk/branch collar, then finish from above (Figure 2). Make the third and final cut near the branch collar to remove the remainder of the branch. This prevents the weight of the branch from pulling down the branch as it is cut and damaging the bark on the trunk.
As for wound dressing, there are debates about whether it helps the tree heal or pre­vents healing. Plants do have their own self-protection and natural resistance mechanisms to heal wounds and fight attacks from insects and diseases. If pruning is done at the right time with sanitized tools and proper techniques, trees can heal themselves, and wound dressing is not necessary. If disease-prone trees have to be pruned when insects and fungi are active (non-dormant season), a coating of insecticide or fungicide is needed.