Detailed Explanation of the Key Points of Hawthorn Tree Training and Pruning Techniques

Hawthorn is a very common fruit, and there are now many products made from hawthorn on the market, such as candied hawthorn skewers and hawthorn juice. Hawthorn is also planted on a fairly large area in China, but some fruit growers find that hawthorn yields are relatively low, which may actually be due to poor training and pruning work. So how should hawthorn trees be trained and pruned? Below, the editor brings you the training and pruning techniques for hawthorn trees. Let's take a look!

1. Pruning of young trees

Young hawthorn trees grow relatively slowly and have weak vigor, and this is also the slow-establishment stage of the hawthorn tree. Pruning work at this stage is mainly focused on training, cultivating good scaffold branches, adjusting the growth direction and angle of the scaffold branches, and laying the foundation for fruiting. Young trees within 3 years of the growing period should be heavily cut back, cutting branches rather than thinning them, to encourage the hawthorn tree to produce more robust branches, expand the canopy, increase the flowering rate, and achieve the goal of early fruiting. The main and lateral branches should be properly cut back, and moderately vigorous branches of medium vigor should be given space to grow, increasing the number of branches and the fruit set of the tree, and properly thinning out branches that are too dense or that compete with the scaffold branches for nutrients.

2. Pruning of trees in the initial fruiting stage

Pruning at this stage should establish a good tree shape and cultivate various types of fruiting branches. Increase the yield of the fruit tree and make good preparations for the transition to full production. The direction of pruning is thinning branches and cultivating fruiting branch groups. If auxiliary nutrient branches compete with the scaffold branches for nutrients, the auxiliary branches should be thinned out in time. When they cannot all be thinned out, some should be retained, and the retained branches should be guided into gentle growth to promote fruiting. Branches that have fruited for more than two years should be retracted in time to prevent fruiting on the outer part, and branches with sufficient growing space can be properly cultivated into fruiting branches, while overly dense and overly long branches should be thinned out.

3. Pruning of trees in full fruiting stage

The pruning direction for trees in full fruiting stage is similar to that for trees in the initial fruiting stage, mainly focusing on tree shape and cultivating fruiting mother branches. Control the number of leaves, properly adjust the leaf canopy surface, renew fruiting mother branches, and prevent the phenomenon of alternate bearing. Increase yield, ensure high and abundant production, and extend the full fruiting period. The main pruning methods are cutting back, retraction, and other means, properly controlling the ratio of fruiting branches to vegetative branches. Thin out peripheral branches, carry out cutting back, thin flowers and fruits, promote nutrient concentration, and promote the development of vegetative branches. Cut out useless branches such as those that are too long, too dense, or overlapping.

4. Pruning for tree renewal

This period is when the fruit tree renews its fruiting mother branches. The growth rate of the tree will decline noticeably, the scaffold branches droop and lose vigor, and the inner canopy branches defoliate severely. A large number of water sprouts and overly dense branches appear, but the hawthorn tree has relatively strong self-recovery ability. As long as water and fertilizer management is strengthened, intertillage and weeding are done well, and pruning is carried out properly, the growth vigor can be restored and the fruiting years extended. The pruning method is usually to retract the scaffold branches at all levels every year and use water sprouts to re-cultivate fruiting branch groups.

Hawthorn trees have different pruning methods at each growth stage, which everyone needs to study carefully and must master. Hawthorn trees have a relatively tall tree shape. If they are not pruned in time, the orchard will be too closed, with extremely poor aeration and light penetration, and the inner canopy branches will receive insufficient light, causing the flowering and fruiting rate to decline and greatly affecting planting benefits. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only. Thank you for reading and supporting us.