Released: April 04, 2002

Pruning Young Fruit Trees

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The proper shape and form of a fruit tree does not happen by accident. Growers who train and prune trees from the time the tree is planted will help ensure yields of high quality fruit much earlier in their lives. Properly pruned tree also may live significantly longer.

"Fruit trees planted this year should be pruned to begin developing a strong structure of the main or scaffold limbs," said Ward Upham, Kansas State University Research and Extension Horticulture Response Center director. "This will help prevent limb breakage over the years when the scaffolds carry a heavy fruit load."

Pruning will develop a strong tree framework to support fruit production. Annual pruning also removes dead, diseased or broken limbs, and opens up the tree canopy to maximize light penetration.

"Training during the year of planting and the following year is important since the grower will select the scaffold branches," he said.

Trees with one or two small branches should be cut back so the tree is only about 32 to 36 inches high, Upham said. This pruning will promote branch development along the tree trunk. The lowest branch should be about 20 inches above the soil level.

"Newly purchased trees with developed branches should be pruned to hold no more than five to six branches for permanent scaffolds, plus the central leader, or main center branch remaining," Upham said. "The rest of the branches should be removed."

Young fruit trees generally are trained using the central leader system. The growth pattern for these trees is for a center branch to be dominant. Such characteristics are found in apple, apricot, cherry, pear and plum trees.

Peach and nectarine trees may be pruned using either the central leader or open center method, since they do not have a strong tendency for one branch to dominate the growth.

This central leader system has a central trunk from which the scaffold branches develop. According to Upham, the scaffold branches should:

* Form wide angles, about 60 to 80 degrees, with the trunk.

* Be distributed on different sides of the tree for good balance.

* Be spaced about 6 to 10 inches apart on the trunk with no branch directly opposite or below another.

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Lucas Shivers, Communications Assistant
lshivers@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News