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Hi I'm Tricia a California organic gardener it's early summer and my fruit trees
are beginning to have little baby fruit and their lush and green so it's
time to do some summer pruning and thinning
The main purpose for summer pruning is to control the size and shape of your
fruit tree you also will allow light to go into the canopy which will increase the
flavor of the fruit and the quality as well as help for next year's flower
development Depending on the fruit tree variety you can prune up to three
times in the non-dormant season
watch for terminal or end buds to know when it's time to prune
Once about seventy-five percent of your trees terminal buds have stopped growing
it's time to prune
this bud has not stopped growing
but this one has For mature apple and pear trees you can prune earlier to keep the
tree small and to decrease this green vigorous growth See all these upright shoots
and water sprouts best time to prune them is in the summer When you cut these
off in the summer
you're helping the tree to redirect it's energy to the fruit
For summer pruning we want to use mainly thinning cuts rather than heading cuts
we want to prune right up to the collar
Mature trees like this Braeburn apple really benefit from summer pruning You
also want to prune your cherries and apricots after harvesting in the
summer
Look for dead or diseased wood it's really easy to spot when the tree is all
green and leafed out
After a tough winter you will have some dead wood
summer pruning will help reduce the amount of pruning that you need to do in
the dormant season
Thinning your fruit off you fruit tree can be a little bit scary because you don't
really want to cut off any of the fruit
but in the long run it's better for the tree
Thinning your fruit can be done at the same time as summer pruning for many
species like this apple tree
Thinning raises fruit size and quality it reduces disease and reduces some of the
trees tendencies for alternate bearing that means that one year you get a lot of
fruit next year you get hardly any
Pome fruits like apples and pears grow in clusters and benefit from
cluster thinning
do this thinning after the june drop when unpollinated it or undersized fruit
drops naturally
Start to thin the fruit when it's about an inch in diameter
Pick the largest out of a cluster and pinch off the rest
takeoff any diseased fruit or ones with insect damage
for fruit not born in clusters thin to about three inches apart
Enjoy yourself this summer in the orchard pruning and thinning your fruit trees
and i promise you'll enjoy it even more at harvest time so thanks for joining and
grow organic for life