Summer Pruning Methods and Technical Points for Sweet Cherry
How do you prune sweet cherry in summer? Please give guidance. Summer pruning of sweet cherry can be done with reference to the following methods: 1. Pinching. Removing the tip portion of a new shoot before the branch becomes woody is called pinching. The main effect of pinching is to control the vigorous growth of branches, increase the order of branching and the number of short fruit branches, and accelerate the expansion of the canopy...
How do you prune sweet cherry in summer? Please give guidance
Summer pruning of sweet cherry can be done with reference to the following methods:
1. Pinching. Removing the tip portion of a new shoot before the branch becomes woody is called pinching. The main effect of pinching is to control the vigorous growth of branches, increase the order of branching and the number of short fruit branches, accelerate the expansion of the canopy, and promote the conversion of branches into fruit-bearing branches, which helps young trees bear fruit earlier. This measure is mainly used for young trees and vigorous trees; for trees in full fruit stage, pinching is not carried out when the annual growth of new shoots is less than 20 cm. Pinching can be divided into two rounds. The first is generally carried out within 10 days after flowering, removing about 5 cm from the tip of the new shoot. After this pinching, apart from a vigorously growing branch emerging at the top, the lower 1-2 buds that sprout can all form short branches, which is very effective for controlling the canopy and cultivating small fruit-bearing branch groups; the second pinching is generally carried out from late May to mid-July, keeping 30-40 cm of the new shoot before pinching, mainly used to increase branch quantity. If the tree is vigorous, after pinching, the secondary shoots can be pinched continuously 2-3 times to promote the secondary shoots to stop growing and form short branches in late August, bearing fruit earlier. Shoots that sprout after too late pinching are not plump.
2. Twisting and bending shoots. When a new shoot is semi-lignified, hold the middle-lower part of the new shoot with your hand and twist it in the opposite direction 180 degrees so that the new shoot becomes horizontal or drooping, injuring the wood and cortex but not breaking it. Twisting shoots in May-June helps form flower buds and inhibit new shoot growth. Twisting shoots on upward-growing branches and inward-growing branches can effectively weaken growth vigor and increase the number of small branches. In the hot season, the operation of gradually bending and pulling a vigorous shoot by hand from the base to the tip is called bending shoots, and it can be done from May to August. Bending shoots helps open the branching base angle of branches and has a good effect of moderating vigor and promoting flowering.
3. Branch pulling. Branch pulling is a technical measure adopted to adjust the angle of scaffold branches or auxiliary branches, moderate tree vigor, and promote early fruiting. Generally, straw rope, plastic rope and the like are used, with a wooden stake tied to the lower end and buried in the ground, and the upper end tied with a wooden hook or padded with waste cloth, waste rubber, and the like to prevent damage to the bark of the pulled branch. The pulled branch is opened to an angle: first-layer branches 70-80 degrees, second-layer branches 80-90 degrees, third-layer branches 90 degrees, and all auxiliary branches and side branches 90 degrees; branch pulling is carried out from before flowering in spring until after harvest in June. When pulling branches, prevent large branches from splitting, and at the same time prevent the pulled branch from arching upward in the middle due to too high a support point, which causes a small waist angle and the arching of the branch to produce water sprouts. The pull rope must be buried within the tree basin to avoid affecting inter-row operations.
4. Thinning branches and renewal pruning. After cherry harvest, in order to adjust the tree structure and improve ventilation inside the canopy, appropriate branch thinning and renewal pruning should be carried out. For strong, vigorous large branches that seriously affect ventilation and light penetration inside the canopy and have no value to retain, they can be cut back at the branching point. For large branches of low order, renewal pruning is mostly used; for branches of high order, thinning can be used, ensuring that branch quantity is not reduced and light is increased, so as to achieve the effect of strengthening the tree and increasing yield. By no means should the renewal pruning of large branches and the renewal pruning of fruit-bearing branches be carried out in winter, which causes the branches below the pruning and saw cuts to dry and shrivel after spring begins.
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