ACTIONPLAN
NIGEL COLBORN’S ESSENTIAL JOBS FOR YOUR GARDEN THIS WEEK
N ow is the time to prune your apple and pear trees. Summer pruning stimulates fruit production and increases yields of future crops, while structural pruning is done in winter on mature trees.
Pruning in summer is especially important on cordontrained or espalier trees.
In spring and summer, such trees will have produced young shoots. Most will be growing vertically from the branches.
Cut back each shoot to the lowest two or three leaves or dormant buds, leaving little stumps along the branches.
In time, these stumps will develop into fruiting spurs and will help to increase the tree’s productivity. As you work, make sure you check each tree’s health.
Use clean secateurs and, if any of your trees have canker — often seen as swollen or cracked areas on stems — prune those last.
Afterwards, use disinfectant to clean your tools.
Mature fruit trees — especially if under stress — often produce young shoots along old limbs. These are called ‘watershoots’ and are best removed.
You can take those off now or wait until winter.
Avoid pruning cherries or plums at this time of year, though. The best time to do this is when the sap is rising — often in early summer.
when sap is falling (from August onwards), there’s a higher risk of them contracting silver leaf disease.