Winter Pruning

I've never thought much about pruning my deciduous fruit trees, but this year I took a couple of pruning classes and have decided to give it a shot. You prune your fruit trees to create a better structure within the tree, trees that aren't pruned get tall and leggy and cannot support the weight of the fruit they bear. A mature peach tree can produce 600 lbs. of fruit. You can also prune trees to dwarf them, dwarfing rootstocks inhibit the growth of trees which usually means you get an under performing tree but if you prune properly you get  the advantage of using better rootstock and you can keep the tree any size you want. Backyard orchardist keep there trees smaller so they can plant more trees in a smaller area and so they don't have to use ladders. You prune your trees when they drop all of there leaves(go dormant) the same with grapes. This year that day was January 16th. I pretty much removed a third of the trees growth and tried to focus on getting 5-6 main branches growing up from the trunk of the tree this is called a scaffold. These branches will be the main fruit bearing branches, fruit only forms on 2 year old growth, so you always want to leave some of last years growth on the tree so you get fruit. I also pruned off branches that crossed or grew towards the middle of the tree. It's pretty hard knocking off a third of a tree that you've spent the last 3 years caring for but in the end I think I'll be rewarded with a better tree. I also pruned my grapes back but that was not as dramatic because I've done that before. I've put a couple of links in this post for cane and spur pruning grapes, they're spot on. Grapes also only grow on second year growth.

Three year old Florida Prince Peach before

After

2 year old Desert Gold Peach before

After, I wasn't real happy with the way this tree grew so I decided to prune heavy keeping only the main structure which means I won't get any fruit this year but in the long run the tree will have better scaffolding and support more fruit in the future.

Grapes are different each variety needs a different style of pruning my Thompson Seedless needs the be cane pruned but my Red Flame Seedless needs to be spur pruned.

Thompson Seedless before.

After cane pruned

Red Flame Seedless before

After spur pruned

Monukka Seedless this grape didn't grow to well this year (I think because it's to close to the wall) I just trimmed him back we'll see if it even buds out this spring.

Pruning review Don't be afraid in case you cut the tree flush with the ground you won't kill it, pruning is actually good for deciduous fruit tress and grapes, make sure you use a good sharp pair of pruners. I like to grind braches up in the chipper and use them for mulch around the trees, but with chickens the mulch doesn't stay there long.