The gardener speaks of an educational pruning when the young fruit tree is to develop a strong crown structure with numerous, well-exposed fruit branches in the first five to eight years after planting through targeted measures.
Young fruit trees should be trained
Training cut for half or standard trees
The first training cut is carried out in late winter or early spring after planting. The aim of this measure, which is repeated annually, is an ideal crown framework, which is constructed according to the following aspects:
- strong middle drive
- three to four well-distributed, strong leading branches
- three lateral branches per leading branch
- several loosely scattered fruit branches along the trunk as well as the main and side branches
- Fruit wood evenly distributed over the different parts of the crown
You can achieve this goal as follows:
- Remove any shoots competing with the leading branches.
- Shoots that are too close together or grow on the tops of the branches are also removed.
- Cut back the stem and guide branch extensions.
- The amount of pruning depends on the growth potential of the tree.
- Strong pruning only with strong shoots.
This cut is repeated every year. From the third year after planting, the side branches are finally raised, with each main branch ideally having three side branches. These should not be too close together so that the later crown is not too dense. Steep young shoots are always cut away, as no fruit wood can develop from them. After pruning, the tree should be in the shape of a house roof or a flat pyramid.
Educational pruning of the spindle shrub
Spindle bushes always keep a small crown and therefore, in contrast to a half or standard trunk, require a special pruning. If you use a two-year-old fruit tree to grow a spindle, all the other branches are cut off apart from about five branches that are arranged as evenly as possible around the trunk. The center drive should also be strongly reduced. In order to create the typical spindle shape, cut back the side shoots that remain in the upper area more than the lower ones. The middle drive must always be in the highest position. Even shoots that grow steeply upwards should always be removed.
tips
Always cut to outward-facing buds (the so-called “eyes”) to create a wide, well-exposed crown.