How to Prune Young Fruit Trees - Apple, Peach, Plum
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- Опубликовано: 10 фев 2025
- How to prune apple, peach, and plum trees in their first years of growth to establish shape and a healthy root system for future fruiting. Pruning fruit trees can be done many ways. Apple trees are typically pruned to a central leader and plums and peaches are pruned to an open center. This is the order I work in.
Step 1.) Removed diseased or dead branches
Step 2.) Removes branches growing inward
Step 3.) Remove all growth below your lowest set of scaffold branches, including suckers from the root stock
Step 4.) Focus on shape by removing crossing limbs to eliminate crowding, limbs growing vertical, and limbs that will be shaded out
Step 5.) Tip the branches to a bud that faces the direction YOU WANT THE BRANCH TO GROW (Yes, we can make them grow where WE want)
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Felco holster: amzn.to/3TrYGYz
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One of the best videos on young fruit tree trimming yet, thanks.
@@SteveGraves1960 thanks!
Not boring at all, in fact, very helpful. Thank you. I'll look forward to your next pruning video on these trees.
@@bijou737 thanks!
I have watched a ton of videos on pruning and this video puts a lot of focus on the bud directions!
Which seems very logical! This really is the video I've been looking for!
Here in SE Texas we have snow predicted next week and that could be our last real cold weather.
So we are just a couple weeks away from needing to get our fruit trees pruned!
Thank you!
@@charlesfoster8814 thanks! Our cold weather is just getting started 😂
Thank you. Very helpful.
Thanks for watching!
"Not too boring"... this was wonderful. Great explanation on technique and planning. Thanks!
Thanks!
I recommend Felco pruners & Wolfgarten RR750 750MM Powercut Bypass Loppers (Comfort Plus). They're pricey but they're high quality. Some brands of loppers don't open as much as you want, and often times chew or leave injuries behind after cutting branches, but I personally found the Wolfgarten ones the nicest because they open up really wide, and leave a clean cut. I wouldn't bother with any other brands when it comes to the loppers. I'd recommend the Felco pruners though because the Wolfgarten ones don't open as much as the Felco ones.
For larger branches I have two sizes of samurai saw. Very sharp. Just ask my hands 😂
@@FastGardeningMichigan I agree! The samurai saws are perfect for larger branches that can't be cut with loppers, and yes they're VERY sharp. I've had a few near misses. It makes the heart race, I tell ya, lol.
I don't have any fruit trees but this made pruning very clear to me. Thanks.
I use the same concept pruning pretty much everything. Using the way the buds face to plan future growth is not talked about enough. Usually pick an outward facing bud is only said
Thanks for the clear video and explanations. I really needed this!
@@poodledaddles1091 you're welcome! I just had to cut another 3 feet off these branches. The plum put on about 5 feet of growth and it's only July
Cool!
Pruning is SO relaxing. I watched all the videos I found with Paul Gautschi. He explains pruning so well. Your video is very good too. I'm sure lots of people will find it useful, especially because your trees are younger than Paul's, so we can see how they develop. One thing I would say, in my opinion, and Paul mentions this as well, is to cut to the collar. You seem to cut a bit too far away sometimes. It makes it harder for the tree to close that wound as it grows. Not too close that it harms the tree, not too far that it leaves stumps on the tree. If you watch videos with Paul, you'll see exactly what I mean. Maybe you watched them already. I hope you don't mind me saying. Anyway, your voice is very relaxing, I look forward to your future videos. 🤗
For sure. When I prune older trees I cut to the collar with a samurai saw, same kind Paul uses. I got a lot of flack for doing that to my mulberry. I've been pruning my crab apples like Paul for the past 2 years to get the bonsai look. The cuts at the collar disappear and it just looks like branches twisting and turning naturally.
do you have video update on these trees?Would be interesting to see
I can do one in spring. The one in the photo was 12 feet tall before I cut it back in summer
@@FastGardeningMichigan I have a liberty apple tree that broked a the top of the main leader last spring.I did not had another shoot going up after the eventual cut that i made.Now exactly below the cut there is a lateral going almost at a 90 degree angle.I planted this tree in 2023,do you think I should cut it back more? Up to a stalk again?
Did I just watch you prune off all the fruiting buds?
I am a newbee and I planted about 14 fruit trees. I have not pruned them and they are 2 to 3 years old since planting. I will do what you did this winter. What about the base of the trees? do i need to keep the base free of weeds? I weed wacked them and put tree rubber mat rings around them. Thanks for your advice.
My trees are in areas with a heavy woodchips mulch. I'll take any weeds that pop up and pull them and leave them on top of the mulch to break down but trees can handle weeds. I might have to do summer pruning on my plum. It's out of control
Can you make a video on the apple tree grafting you talked about?
I will. I have the scions in the fridge waiting on the crab apples to break dormancy. I'm going to graft a pear to a Bradford pear tree I have as well. If you search "Paul Gautschi grafting" you can see how he does it. It really simplifies the process. Increased pollination and multiple varieties on one tree
@@FastGardeningMichigan awesome. My wife and I went to Mackinac Island last year. I got some rose hips from the island and just got them to start germinating in the fridge after 3 months. I transplanted yesterday to 3” pots in a makeshift greenhouse. Do you have any suggestions for success?
@@mayapple08 Ive never grown those from seed so I have no advice to give. Germination is usually the toughest part for perennials
Nice. I didn't know that there was so much to pruning, but it makes sense. Should I do this with the fruit bushes? Also, do you think you will build a fenced in perimeter around those trees that connect to the fence of the garden, or does it not matter too much? I'm always learning with your vids. Thanks.
I use these steps to prune anything established. Inward and dead branches gone first, then working on airflow and shape. This year I'm using the stacked wood to deter deer from coming that way but eventually that area and more will be part of the garden. I'm planting more trees and bushes outside the fence. And this year the area outside the fence will have 5 or more different odd melons as ground cover
@@FastGardeningMichigan Sweet, can't wait to see it. Are there actual diseases 'floating' around, or is disease the result of malnutrition?
@@EpsteinIsSeaEyeAyy fruit trees are susceptible to a lot of diseases and pests. I had no issues. Few tent caterpillars but that wasn't tough to fix. Disease resistant cultivars help I think. I have no intentions on sprays even though everyone says it's mandatory with fruit trees
@@FastGardeningMichigan Yea I'm not going to spray anything. I'd rather the whole project go down than spray. People keep warning me about Junebugs? You know any deterrent for those?
@@EpsteinIsSeaEyeAyy I have a lot of June bugs. They aren't an issue. Asiatic beetles and Japanese beetles are thick around here. I hand pick and feed to the chickens. Their favorite time of year 😂. I figure with every beetle they eat I prevent hundreds more.
So when you prune the ones that are already in the right direction, why is that? Does it not continue the same path(ie it will choose a bud if you don't?)
@@realMysta pruning forces new growth. I want the frame to be thicker branches with side branching. Thin branches have a hard time holding fruit and tend to break. Lateral shoots are also where fruit forms, so pruning to encourage lateral growth will yield more fruit. Even with this intense pruning these trees have put on insane growth and will need to be hacked up this spring
Just found a new Peach tree growing in one of my larger planters. Got a neighbor who has a few peach trees . I'll pick them when ripe eat them and toss the pits in one of my planters. Second peach tree i got this way. No idea if since they are all pollinated on the same block. If ill get fruit as tastey as the mother tree. But i dont know a lot ha
They won't grow true, but peaches from seed tend to produce trees with edible fruits
I can see the mother tree from my yard which was why I was hoping . But it all ends up tortoise chow in the end ha thanks man
I'm trying the apple seeds even if they will be untrue I think fruit trees on my landacape will help us get registered as a wildlife stop which means no more mowing ha
I have a pear tree that has produced fruit three years in a row between deer and the random passerby I have yet to taste one ha but yeah the deer ate a lot of young branches last fall so I basically have a candelabra on a 7ft pole 😅
I left it that way and kinda hoping it's out of reach for at least people walking thru my alley.
I got this going on my television while I'm listening to it on my phone to type this. 😅 Twice the views from one viewer .
I have no pears but the neighbors do. They give us a bunch. Chickens love the rotten ones
Look how they massacred my boy
I prune other stuff a lot harder. Pruning forces massive growth
Interesting video but the microphone whistling is annoying.
Someone pointed out whistling in another video but no one else could hear it.
I find making compliments about little things on RUclips just as annoying 😅