Why prune fruit trees? How to trim so as not to affect the hanging fruit?

In rural areas, fruit trees planted in front of and behind houses are not pruned in time in most cases, but allowed to grow freely. Therefore, in rural villages, we often see some tall fruit trees, such as peach trees, pear trees, walnut trees, grapefruit trees and so on. To eat the fruits of these fruit trees, children or young people mostly need to climb to the treetops to pick them, or use long bamboo poles to poke the fruits down at the bottom of the trees.

These tall and luxuriant fruit trees actually have a lot of fruit on the mountain. A large fruit tree has at least several hundred catties of fruit, and many of them have thousands of pounds. So we often wonder why large-scale orchard planting bases have to prune fruit trees. Let it grow into such a big tree, a tree is worth several trees. I believe that most people who do not understand the reason will have such doubts.

In fact, the fruit trees planted sporadically in front of and behind our houses and the fruit trees planted in orchards grow in different environments, and the purpose of planting them is also different. The fruit trees planted in front of and behind the house are for greening the environment and for self-sufficiency, so it doesn't matter how many fruits they bear, as long as they can grow luxuriantly, so that the living environment can become beautiful, and at the same time, they can eat their own fresh fruits. In addition, because it is planted sporadically, there is no case of branches and leaves affecting each other during the growth of fruit trees, so there is no need for pruning.

The fruit trees planted in orchards, first of all, are aimed at making them bear more fruits, achieving the goals of high yield, high benefit and high income; secondly, these densely planted fruit trees, in the process of growth, do not prune will affect each other's growth, thus affecting the bearing of fruits, so it is necessary to prune them at several stages of their growth, so that they can maintain a certain tree shape in order to hang more fruits. Therefore pruning is required at the following stages of growth:

It needs to be pruned first at the young stage. Pruning at this time is intended to expand the tree canopy, increase the number of branches, and adjust the tree shape so that it can be larger for photosynthesis. A reasonable pruning at this time can also provide the fruit quantity and quality of the fruit tree, and can also make it bear fruit early and harvest early, unlike the fruit trees planted in front of the house, which will not bear fruit until several years later.

The second is the need to prune at full fruiting stage. During this period, some weak branches, diseased branches and branches affecting photosynthesis of fruit trees will be cut off in order to make fruit trees grow better, maintain a good tree structure, and balance the relationship between fruit trees and fruit trees, thus prolonging the fruiting period of fruit trees.

Again, it needs pruning in old age. During this period, some branches that affect the nutrient absorption and photosynthesis of fruit trees should be cut off in time, so that some strong branches can absorb nutrients better and grow, so that the fruit yield of old trees can be maintained at a higher level.

Therefore, in different growth periods of fruit trees, it is necessary to prune fruit trees, observe fruit trees every year, make some appropriate adjustments to the growth of fruit trees in real time, and prune them in time so as not to affect their growth and fruit bearing. The pruning principle generally adopted is "light, light and heavy combination; overall consideration, length combination; due to tree pruning, with branches for shape." There are many specific methods, and after on-site analysis according to different tree species, different tree ages and different tree bodies, judgment is made for pruning, so only a few common pruning methods can be listed here:

Short-cut method: cut off some branches, so that nutrients can be concentrated on some strong branches, reduce nutrient consumption, and maintain better light and ventilation conditions in the crown.

Thinning method: that is, sick branches, weak branches, dead branches, excessive long branches, disturbed tree growth branches cut off.

Topping method: about to pick off the buds, control the growth length of fruit tree branches, so that nutrient supply balance.

Take branch method: namely some over-growth branches with their hands will be broken internal phloem and xylem, causing minor damage, inhibit its growth, change its extension direction.

Bent branch method: that is, some straight growth of branches bent with rope tied, so that its curved parts can be exposed, in a better growth environment.

In short, the method is dead, people are alive, as long as the corresponding technical essentials are mastered, it does not depend on what kind of method is adopted, but one thing to remember is that pruning strategies must be made according to tree species, tree shape, age, etc., so that fruit trees can bear more fruits and maintain a certain tree shape.