Pruning key to growing better fruit

For those of you lucky enough to have fruit trees and bushes growing in your garden, this month is your last chance to cut them back. Winter pruning is suitable for apples, pears, quinces and medlars as well as grape vines, currants and gooseberries. Stone fruit, such as plums and cherries, shouldn’t be pruned until the summer.

The point of winter pruning is to let in light and air, and maintain a good shape. This encourages better fruit later in the year and helps the plant resist pests and diseases.

If trees are pruned only irregularly, or only lightly, they can become overcrowded. This means that not enough light will get in to help fruit ripen.

If branches rub together, it can increase the risk of disease. But it is also important not to over-prune, which can produce lots of vigorous shoots with few if any buds, leading to a poor crop.

How you prune depends on the fruiting habit. Many apples are spur bearers, producing fruit on two-yearold wood, while others are tip bearers, fruiting at the end of shoots grown the previous year.

Make sure you leave enough buds to blossom and bear fruit. With all, you are aiming to remove about 10 to 20 per cent of the canopy of the tree or bush, as well as any dead, diseased and damaged branches.

You will need secateurs or loppers, gloves, a sturdy ladder and eye protection. remove any branches that are crossing, as they will rub, as well as any that are inward or downward growing. reduce main branches by a quarter to one-third, cutting at an angle just above a bud. Leave young side shoots unpruned so they can produce fruit.