Pruning techniques of apricot trees

Apricot tree is very fond of light, no matter the natural round head shape, natural open shape or scattered layered tree shape, the main branches should not be too many, but the layers should be large, so that sunlight can enter the inner bore, improve ventilation conditions and improve light utilization. Reasonable pruning can make young trees expand crown rapidly, increase branch quantity, bear fruit ahead of time, have high yield in early stage, realize high and stable yield in full fruit stage, and prolong full fruit stage.

degermination

In addition to sprouting, that is, after sprouting in spring, the densely crowded buds or twigs that are not in the right position and excessive in number are removed in time to reduce nutrient consumption and make the remaining branches obtain sufficient nutrition and light. This method is mostly used for young trees. It is better to wipe the bud early, and the length of the tender shoot should not exceed 3~5 cm. At this time, the branches have not yet lignified, and the wounds caused by them can be easily wiped off by hand; when the old trees are renewed, many useless twigs are also easy to sprout near the scissors and saws, and they should also be wiped off as soon as possible.

branch bending

Some varieties of young trees, easy to shoot some vigorous growth of upright branches, resulting in crown does not open. For this kind of branch, after the sap flows to the bud before, there is a rope to pull it into a certain angle, in order to ease the growth, promote the fruit branch, early fruit. The angle of pulling branches should not be too large, preferably 45~50 degrees, too large an angle or flattening it, and erect branches will occur on the back, which will still flourish and affect flowering and fruiting.

For this kind of upright vigorous branch, if it is not cut or pulled slowly, the front (upper) part can also form some fruit branches, but after fruiting, the lower part is easy to bald, reducing the fruiting position, affecting the yield and quality.

pinching

Topping is the removal of the tender tip of the shoot. The optimum position for germination in the crown, light conditions are more favorable long branches, regeneration shoots, extended branches, upright growth on the back of the moderate branches, can be removed, the time of removal, to the new shoots as long as 40 cm or so is good. However, the extension branches of main and lateral branches at all levels and the branches replacing the extension branches may not be picked, such as to increase the angle and increase the branch level, but the number of picking should not be too many, so as to avoid the branches not being full.

Branching and lignification can take place in the lower part of the shoots about 10 days after they are picked. However, if the top is picked more than 3 times, when the branch growth is not full, it may cause freezing injury, or it will weaken the tree because of too many branches.

Pay attention to the lighting conditions when pruning. As long as the lighting is sufficient, enough nutrients can be produced to meet the needs of growth, and to prevent the bare bore and the outward movement of the fruit part. Therefore, the tree structure should be small and large, and the distribution of branches should be sparse outside and dense inside, sparse above and dense below, and sparse branches and dense branches in order to achieve the expected effect.