How to prune a loquat tree correctly in summer
How do you prune a loquat tree in summer? What are the benefits of pruning a loquat tree? What should you pay attention to when pruning? Experienced gardeners are asked to share their advice. Summer pruning of loquat trees is mainly done because summer temperatures are high and there is plenty of rain, and at this time the loquat tree no longer carries the burden of reproductive growth and has a strong ability to push out new shoots. Summer pruning delays shoot sprouting...
How do you prune a loquat tree in summer? What are the benefits of pruning a loquat tree? What should you pay attention to when pruning? Experienced gardeners are asked to share their adviceSummer pruning of loquat trees is mainly carried out because summer temperatures are high and there is plenty of rain, and at this time the loquat tree no longer carries the burden of reproductive growth and has a strong ability to push out new shoots. Summer pruning delays the sprouting of shoots and the stopping of shoot growth, strengthens the tree, and can delay the flowering period to avoid frost damage. Therefore, Zhongdiwang has compiled the methods for summer pruning of loquat trees, listed in detail below for gardeners to reference.
Summer pruning time for loquat trees:
Summer pruning of loquat trees is meant to restore tree vigor, promote the growth of robust shoots, and lay the foundation for a bumper crop the following year. Summer pruning should remove dense branches, weak branches, diseased and pest-infested branches, and dead branches; shorten leggy branches and some perennial crooked, weak branch groups; and remove or shorten fruiting branches after harvest.
Since loquat flowering and fruiting are mainly borne on summer shoots, and the summer shoots of mature trees mostly sprout after fruit picking from the latent buds at the base of the fruit cluster, and flower bud differentiation belongs to the summer-autumn continuous type, summer pruning is best done immediately after fruit picking, completed before the end of August, so that the loquat can sprout neat, robust summer shoots from late August to early September and differentiate flower buds as early as possible. More than 90% of such summer shoots can flower and bear fruit.
Summer pruning methods for loquat trees:
Summer pruning of loquat can adopt different pruning methods according to different plants and different canopy shapes:
1. For loquat trees that grow vigorously and flower heavily, remove the weak and keep the strong among the fruiting branches that have already been harvested; for the few small branch groups that make the canopy too dense, carry out renewal pruning and shortening, and cut off diseased, pest-infested and dead branches to increase the openness of the canopy.
2. For loquat trees that grow robustly but flower less, you can remove some weak branches and select a few dense branch groups for renewal pruning and shortening, so as to increase openness on the outside of the canopy and increase the leafy layer inside.
3. For loquat trees that grow weakly but flower heavily, the fruiting branches that have already been harvested should be cut off; the new shoots that sprout after spring renewal pruning and shortening should keep the strong and remove the weak, so that 1 to 2 new shoots can be retained on each base branch.
4. For loquat trees that grow weakly and flower less, the weak branch groups can be renewed, shortened and cut back; the new shoots that sprout after spring renewal pruning and shortening should have the weak removed and the strong kept, so that the canopy is renewed with robust shoots. 5. For plants with no flowers or basically no flowers, renewal pruning should be carried out in spring rather than summer pruning.
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