Peter Seabrook don’t leave young

with Peter Seabrook, AG’s classic gardening expert

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tips

1Apple trees on dwarfing rootstock M9 and even more dwarfing M27 will need secure staking for all their cropping lives.

The eff ect of pruning is to stimulate two or three strong new shoots behind each cut A one-year-old apple tree after being pruned back

Prune early apple trees

It won’t reach its potential if ‘planted and left’, says Peter

WHEN I view recently planted (the last five-seven years) apple and pear trees, all too often I am filled with despair. Lovely young, one-totwo-year old trees at the outset were planted with enthusiasm and just left. Pruning bush, half-standard and full-standard trees –to establish a good branch framework in these early years –is essential. A good general rule is to prune back, by one-half to two-thirds, all the strong lead shoots made the previous summer. The effect of this is to stimulate two or three strong new shoots behind each cut, so after several years a semi-globe of stout branches will develop. Each of these branches develop spurs and short

laterals to carry fruit. Left unpruned, new growth develops at the end of each stem and, worse, with tip bearers flower clusters develop. This leaves a length of bare stem, and where fruits set at the tip the weight bends it down in an arc to the extreme where a large fruit can break the thin, elongated branch. All too often these days, good container-grown, one- and two-yearold trees are sold unpruned. This is not difficult to understand; where the garden centre or nursery prune before offering for sale, the head on each tree would be one-half to two-thirds smaller and not look worth as much. The stronger growing the rootstock, the more vigour to be found on branch extensions and the larger the ultimate size. It is a good general rule that the harder you cut, the stronger the regrowth, so on young trees on more vigorous rootstocks the pruning is not to be quite so hard. Rootstock M26 is of medium vigour and more suited to container growing and general garden planting than very dwarfing rootstocks.

2Young fruit trees will grow better without the competition of grass around the base, so keep a metrewide clean circle around each trunk.

3Encourage flower bud formation and then fruit clusters on strong, lateral side growth by tying over in a half circle with soft twine.

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