Knowing the right time to trim trees will help ensure healthy growth. With fruit trees, correctly pruning and trimming will help prevent winter damage and ensure a bountiful harvest during the fall. You will want to have branches trimmed low and allow for new growth. Here are some winter time fruit trimming tips that will give you a more bountiful harvest during the fall:
1. Keeping Branches and Canopies Low for Easier Harvesting
With large ornamental trees, you may want high, healthy canopies, this is different with fruit trees because it is difficult to reach fruit that is high off the ground. Keep the growth of the trees as low as possible to make it easy to harvest fruit off the ground or with the aid of a step ladder. In addition to making it easier to harvest fruits, trimming the canopy of the tree will also help improve health and production of your fruit trees.
2. Trimming Heavy Branches to Promote Healthy New Growth
Another problem that you may have with older trees is heavy branches that can break and expose trees to insects and disease. During the harvest season, the problem of heavy branches is worse because they can become weighted down with fruit, and harvesting may lead to damage. To prevent problems with heavy branches on fruit trees, remove the overgrown branches, leaving only the well-established main shoots from the trunk. Removing overgrown branches also helps to promote new growth and can increase production during the following season.
3. Removing Damaged Branches and Adding New Growth
During the summer and fall months, your fruit trees are subject to a lot of stress from storms; not only damaging the harvest, but also causing injury to the trees. When you trim trees, remove any damaged branches. If a storm has caused the damage, remove the broken branches as soon as possible to prevent disease and insect problems. For disease and insects, treat the infected trees throughout the growing season and remove the infected branches or trees during the growing season. You may want to have a tree service evaluate your trees and recommend the best course of action to deal with disease and insects that are putting the health of healthy trees in jeopardy.
These are some winter trimming tips for fruit trees to help ensure a more plentiful harvest during fall harvest season. If you need help with the care of fruit trees on your property, contact a tree service like Jonny's Tree & Landscaping Co., LLC and talk with them about trimming and removal of trees to improve next year's harvest.
