SERIES 36 | Episode 17
Hannah is pruning some of her pome fruit trees – these are the thin-skinned fruit that lack a stone and instead have pips, such as apples, pears, and quinces.
Winter is a good time to prune these trees if you’re encouraging them to put on new growth. The deciduous trees are bare in winter, so it’s easier to see the framework of the tree and any problem areas.
With any pruning job, you always want to first check for the three Ds: deadwood, disease or damage.
After that, you are looking to create a good shape and accessible height.
Hannah has a three-year-old ‘Magnus Summer Surprise’ apple that already has been pruned to a good shape but just needs some tweaks, including reducing the size of this year’s new growth. She cuts the new stems back by about a third, cutting back to an outward-facing bud so that the new growth will grow away from the centre of the tree, not clutter up the middle. Cut just above this bud at an angle.
Her goal for this tree is to create an open vase shape to maximise air flow through the centre of the tree – reducing the risk of pests and disease – and to make it easier to pick the fruit! Having a tree that you can reach the top of also helps with picking and makes it easier to net fruit against birds and other pests.
When cutting larger branches, it’s best to make the cut as close as possible to the join without touching the collar, which is the swollen part where the branch meets the main stem. It’s a good idea to make an undercut first, then cut from above to reduce the risk of the branch tipping as it falls and creating a large wound.
Pome trees fruit on spurs
These are short, stubby branches with a cluster of buds on the top. These will stay on the tree for its whole life, so take care not to cut them off by accident.
Pruning multiple pome trees
It’s a good idea to clean your tools between trees, to reduce the risk of spreading any disease. Spray them with a mix of three parts methylated spirits and one part water (375ml methylated spirits and 125ml water if you’re using a 500ml bottle). Hannah also adds some tea tree oil to her mix.
Pruning espaliered trees
Remove excess sideways growth that can’t be trained into the flat plane of the tree’s shape. This way of pruning can bring clusters of fruit spurs too close together, so in this situation it’s best to thin them out. Leave about 10-15cm between clusters so the fruit has room to grow.
Quinces
Quinces fruit on new growth – the wood that are new that season – often near the tip of each branch. Hannah points out the difference in the lighter colour and shiny, smooth feel of the new bark. When pruning, it’s important to leave lots of new-season growth so the tree will produce lots of fruit.
New trees
Hannah has a new nashi pear that has been in the ground for a year. She did the initial structural prune into a vase shape after planting. She is weighing one upright branch down a bit to train it into a more open shape. This year all Hannah has to do is take a bit of length off the three main leaders … and wait for it to grow.
Featured Plants APPLE ‘MAGNUS SUMMER SURPRISE’Malus cv.APPLE ‘COX’S ORANGE PIPPIN’Malus cv.QUINCECydonia oblonga cv.NASHI PEARPyrus pyrifolia cv.
Filmed in Hobart, Tas
