What is the most important summer pruning method for apricot trees?
In response to the low fruit-setting rate of greenhouse apricot trees, it is recommended that growers, when cultivating greenhouse apricot trees, grasp the artificial supplementary pollination during the flowering period from three aspects. The specific methods are as follows: for pollen collection, 2 to 4 days before artificial pollination, collect flower buds that are about to bloom and normally developed from selected varieties with high pollination affinity, ...
Summer pruning of apricot trees is an important part of the whole year's pruning. Reasonable summer pruning plays an important role in the rapid shaping of young trees and in increasing the yield of trees in their first fruiting year the following year.Pruning of young trees: summer pruning
For young trees, the water sprouts, competing shoots and back shoots among the new shoots should be heavily shortened or thinned out. The extension shoots of the main and lateral branches and the central leader should all be pinched in late June to stimulate the sprouting of secondary shoots to increase the order and number of branches and buds. This not only allows the canopy of the apricot tree to form earlier and moderates the growth vigor of the branches, but also reduces the ineffective growth of the branches. Thinning out excessive and overly dense branches can improve the ventilation and light conditions of young trees.
Pruning of trees in the first fruiting stage
In summer pruning, apricot trees in the first fruiting stage should mainly be thinned or heavily cut back. Thin out or heavily cut back or shorten, including competing shoots, back shoots and water sprouts, and reasonably thin out overly dense branches to improve ventilation and light penetration and prevent the growth of ineffective branches.
Pruning of old trees
For renewing and rejuvenating old apricot trees, summer pruning is very important. For example, for large branches that were cut back in winter, the new shoots sprouting from them the following year are numerous and vigorous in growth. In summer pruning, their back shoots and water sprouts should be thinned out or shortened to reduce the growth of useless branches and increase the rapid growth of retained branches. Thin out overly dense branches and shorten the vigorous main growth points to induce secondary shoots and increase the number of branches and buds. Summer pruning should be carried out multiple times from June to August.
Precautions
In order to fully supply nutrients to the retained branches and remove useless branches, summer pruning should be carried out on the secondary shoots newly grown in spring. In our province, this is generally done from June to August.