You love your beautiful fruit trees and the luscious morsels they provide you each season for canning, making jams, or just plain eating. Keeping your fruit trees pruned and trimmed helps them live longer, produce healthier fruit, and look more attractive in your yard. Here are signs your trees need a little TLC.
You have 'shooters'
Shooters are branches that launch straight up from your trees. They are common in fruit trees that have been pruned in the past but have not been maintained since. These branches are often very straight, don't have fruit on them and stick out higher than the top of your trees. Not only do shooters look strange, but also they can take away from the health of your tree by hogging most of the sunlight and nutrients needed for fruit production. Have an arborist or skilled landscaper trim these off for you.
You have tiny fruit
You're not just seeing things if you think your apricots, pears, cherries, peaches, or other fruit getting smaller and smaller each year. The larger a fruit tree is, the more buds it has, which equals a larger fruit yield. A single tree may not be able to properly nourish each bud which can result in tinier, less tasty fruit production. Removing the large bulk of the tree so it can fan out and have greater bud balance is ideal for best production. You will get less fruit this way, which limits waste and allows you to have healthier and tastier fruit as a result as well.
You can't keep up
As fruit trees grow out of control their branches may get to high to reach produce successfully. You may experience more spoiled fruit on the ground than usual or get into your tree only to realize the birds have gotten to your precious fruit first. Trimming fruit trees so they are lower to the ground allows them to be more manageable, which makes them more enjoyable for you as well. Talk to your landscaper or arborist about re-shaping your trees so they are easier for you to manage.
Keep in mind that you should have your trees trimmed regularly so they are healthier and produce healthier fruit every year. Choose a landscaper or arborist who specializes in these kinds of trees to keep them maintained throughout the year. The best time to trim these trees is late winter or late fall, before the trees bud out and begin production. For more information, contact a business such as Tree Worx.
