Understanding Pest Control For Trees

Pruning involves removing dead and overgrown branches and trees. This maintenance practice should be performed more regularly than tree trimming. While trimming is mainly for aesthetic purposes, pruning involves maintaining your trees' health. Here are some critical tips for pruning fruit trees.

Why Should You Prune Fruit Trees?

If you don't prune your fruit trees, they will all bear fruit and grow tall, making the harvest process tedious. Additionally, the fruits of the unpruned trees are small and of poor quality. These trees tend to have irregular production patterns. For example, the trees bear heavy crops during one season and light crops the next. Pruning helps address all these problems.

What Factors Should You Consider When Pruning Fruit Trees?

The proper shape and stimulating factors are two of the most important factors to consider when pruning fruit trees. A fruit tree's natural shape isn't always ideal for fruit bearing. For example, there is a significant difference in the fruit production of wild fruit trees and trees in well-maintained locations. 

The difference lies in the shape of the trees. Well-pruned trees produce more trees than those in the wild. However, it is advisable to hire an arborist to achieve the proper shape of your trees.

Another consideration you need to make when pruning fruit trees is the stimulating factor. Pruning helps stimulate more growth. When you remove excessive live growth, you stimulate negative growth in water sprouts and suckers. During the pruning process, all suckers should be removed while some sprouts can be left. Again, a professional can remove water sprouts and suckers properly.

When Is the Ideal Time to Prune Fruit Trees?

Pruning your trees in the winter promotes vigorous growth. This is because the arborist will choose the best branches to keep and remove poor-quality branches. Therefore, when spring comes, the tree will not use up its energy to spur the growth of poor-quality branches. On the contrary, it will direct all its energy toward the healthy branches.

However, some people prefer to prune large fruit trees in the spring. This makes the trees more compact. But pruning in the spring doesn't stimulate as much growth as it would during the winter. This is because the fruit tree has used its stored energy to sustain the growth of its leaves and shoots.

In Closing

Pruning fruit trees is crucial if you want to increase their production. Furthermore, for poor-quality fruits, trees need to be pruned regularly. Hire a local tree service to prune your fruit trees properly with the appropriate techniques and tools. As a result, you will enjoy better yields and a beautiful yard.