How to Prune Apple Trees with Unbalanced Growth? A Detailed Guide to the Latest Methods
Apple trees are very common in our country, and there are many varieties of apples, with different planting areas in various regions of our country. Many fruit growers, when planting apples, find that improper management, the natural environment and other factors lead to unbalanced growth of apple trees. At this time, we need to adjust the growth of apple trees through pruning to ensure balanced growth. So if an apple tree has unbalanced growth, how should it be pruned? Let's take a look below!
1. Strong outside, weak inside
When the outer branches of an apple tree grow strongly, the branches are excessively vigorous, and the angle of the extension branches is small, this will seriously affect the light penetration of the inner canopy branches. This causes the inner canopy branches to have poor light penetration, grow thin and weak, and in severe cases die off. For fruit trees that are strong outside and weak inside, the first step is to adjust the growth angle of the main and lateral branches. Increase the number of branches on the main and lateral branches, then prune away the overly dense and overly long branches around the canopy as well as the perennial vigorous shoots. Improve the light penetration inside the apple tree canopy, promote branch growth, increase nutrient accumulation, and strengthen the tree's vigor. Ringing can be used to promote flowering and prevent excessive vigor, and short pruning can also be done in winter to develop fruiting branch groups.
2. Strong top, weak bottom
Keeping vigorous branches year after year and short-pruning vigorous buds will strengthen branch growth and cause the growth rate to be too fast, leading to the phenomenon of strong top and weak bottom in apple trees within 3 years. If the first tier is improperly short-pruned and thinned, the amount of branches and leaves of the apple tree will drop sharply, the growth rate will decline noticeably, and canopy expansion will also be hindered. When you find a tree that is strong at the top and weak at the bottom, promptly thin out the vigorous shoots in the middle and upper part of the trunk, then retain moderate branches. Slowly lay the other branches flat, and thin out the vigorous shoots on the back of the scaffold branches. Short-prune excess branches to increase branch weight and enhance branch vigor.
3. Strong bottom, weak top
Opposite to trees that are strong at the top, if weak branches and weak buds are kept year after year, the upper branches grow weakly while the lower branches grow strongly, this will certainly lead to strong bottom and weak top. If the three main branches at the base grow strongly and grow together, this can easily cause a "choking neck" phenomenon in the apple tree. At this time, we need to suppress the growth of the lower branches; weak branches should be selected for the lower part, and vigorous branches should be thinned out. Then increase the growth angle of the scaffold branches, and use girdling to promote flowering. Avoid excessive growth of the lower branches and improve the fruiting rate of the first tier of main branches. Also pay attention to pruning the overly long and overly dense branches in the upper part, carrying out short pruning to increase the amount of branches and leaves.
4. Weak basal main branches
For some fruit trees with weak overall growth, select weaker branches and short-prune them. Also short-prune the extension main and lateral branches, and prune away a small number of upright, dense and other vigorous shoots on the back of the tree. Retain the remaining branches, try not to leave flower buds, and promote vegetative growth of the apple tree. For some fruit trees that grow excessively vigorously, the opposite is true: thin out more branches, mainly competitive branches and overly dense vigorous branches, and retain most flower buds. Score the branches to increase the number of flowers and fruits, using the fruit to control the tree's vigor.
The above is a brief introduction to how to prune apple trees with unbalanced growth. In fact, unbalanced growth in apple trees is mainly caused by inadequate pruning work. Therefore, when planting, we must do the pruning work in advance to avoid some phenomena of unbalanced growth and increase labor costs. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only. Thank you for your reading and support.