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Man, thanks for bringing up this topic. Most people don't know how powerful a tool summer pruning can be. I wish I had figured it out earlier. I do both thinning of the interior of the trees (lots of water sprouts, sometimes branches that are becoming too dense) throughout the growing season (maybe once a month if I had to guess) and then I'll do occasional heading cuts to help establish main branch structure. I started doing limb spreading to get better crotch angles and it's amazing at how effective it can be. You might not need to do much to a really young tree, but in the 2nd-3rd growing season it can really make a difference. Plus with trees that grow spurs, you can get insane spur development with a little bit of effort. One of our apples put on maybe 10 spurs in one 1' section of branch after I had tipped it twice. I'll have to definitely thin that tree :)
@@TheBusyGardener I agree, a UA-camr did a follow-up, I think it was Urban Gardener. But just following a channel is the best way. There was only one channel I have seen, and can't remember its name now, that does a videos that spanned years on a few of the trees. It's not an easy thing to do.
Thanks for this great information! I planted an orchard last year, and I summer pruned for the first time yesterday, and tipped all of the trees! I’m looking forward to seeing what will happen next year!
Your pluerry trees are just like mine (and my emerald beaut plum). They just want to grow straight up and most of the crotch angles are very acute. Maybe 30 degrees or less. I really wish I had tied the main limbs out to better angles while they're still flexible. The apples and plums that I have done that to are all now 45 to 60 degree angles and it looks way better, plus it's easier to keep the center of the tree from getting too crowded. I just pound some rebar stakes into the ground and use some twine and grafting tape to hold the limb down to an appropriate angle. Once the limb lignifies in a couple of months, you can take remove the stakes and they'll stay pretty close to where you put them.
+Marsha Balderrama yup! Winter pruning is terrific for all the detail pruning where you can see what's going on with the branches without all the leaves.
It's funny, I am going to try summer pruning this year. But interesting enough, my multi-grafted trees get a prune usually every 4-6 weeks to keep them balanced, one of the negatives of them. Also going to try notching once our rain settles to try and get new branches, something to explore. I do want to add, there is a good reason to summer prune and not winter prune a tree, disease. In our area here in Melbourne Australia, we have a fungal disease that badly affects apricots. So much so a winter pruning can and does end up killing some trees, I just had to replace one that had only been in the ground over winter (3 months old in the ground) because the farm knicked it when pulling it out of the ground and it bleed out when it woke up because of the disease and killed it. Something some people might want to think about.
@@TheBusyGardener went well, did it over 2 to 3 days a few weeks ago. Not sure I was aggressive enough. But the beauty of trees is I can fix that next year and they won't care. Already starting to see more growth after the prune. We are looking forward to next summer as our first real fruit crops should start.
Totally OK! Actually, it's ok for other trees too. The only downside is losing the fruit on the limbs you prune. But lemon and lime are so productive it's not usually a huge loss.
*Did you know that your plants will grow better when you hit "join" above?* 😂 Seriously, would you consider supporting The Busy Gardener as a monthly member? A couple bucks a month gets you some sweet perks. ua-cam.com/channels/GQtXp5PQ0qIHUIx-8kkR0Q.htmljoin
Man, thanks for bringing up this topic. Most people don't know how powerful a tool summer pruning can be. I wish I had figured it out earlier. I do both thinning of the interior of the trees (lots of water sprouts, sometimes branches that are becoming too dense) throughout the growing season (maybe once a month if I had to guess) and then I'll do occasional heading cuts to help establish main branch structure. I started doing limb spreading to get better crotch angles and it's amazing at how effective it can be. You might not need to do much to a really young tree, but in the 2nd-3rd growing season it can really make a difference. Plus with trees that grow spurs, you can get insane spur development with a little bit of effort. One of our apples put on maybe 10 spurs in one 1' section of branch after I had tipped it twice. I'll have to definitely thin that tree :)
Could you please explain more the cutting place and how this can create outwards or inwards facing branches. I didn't get what you meant. Thanks
I would have loved to see the final results of all the pruning. Otherwise, good information.
The biggest problem with pruning videos, the results aren't known for 3-6 months. So it can be hard to show it.
+Matthew Farrell that's a good point. I know for me, following a channel shows this overtime.
@@TheBusyGardener I agree, a UA-camr did a follow-up, I think it was Urban Gardener. But just following a channel is the best way. There was only one channel I have seen, and can't remember its name now, that does a videos that spanned years on a few of the trees. It's not an easy thing to do.
Thanks for this great information! I planted an orchard last year, and I summer pruned for the first time yesterday, and tipped all of the trees! I’m looking forward to seeing what will happen next year!
Nice job, Annette! You'll get a better and better feel for how your pruning affects your treea
Your pluerry trees are just like mine (and my emerald beaut plum). They just want to grow straight up and most of the crotch angles are very acute. Maybe 30 degrees or less. I really wish I had tied the main limbs out to better angles while they're still flexible. The apples and plums that I have done that to are all now 45 to 60 degree angles and it looks way better, plus it's easier to keep the center of the tree from getting too crowded. I just pound some rebar stakes into the ground and use some twine and grafting tape to hold the limb down to an appropriate angle. Once the limb lignifies in a couple of months, you can take remove the stakes and they'll stay pretty close to where you put them.
"Delicious" info! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the summer trimming. Do I still trim in the wintertime?
+Marsha Balderrama yup! Winter pruning is terrific for all the detail pruning where you can see what's going on with the branches without all the leaves.
@@TheBusyGardener thanks for getting back to me soon. Have a great day🌱
Much needed video, how about figs? I want to put a row of them in about 25 should I grow them as bushes or trees
It's funny, I am going to try summer pruning this year. But interesting enough, my multi-grafted trees get a prune usually every 4-6 weeks to keep them balanced, one of the negatives of them. Also going to try notching once our rain settles to try and get new branches, something to explore.
I do want to add, there is a good reason to summer prune and not winter prune a tree, disease. In our area here in Melbourne Australia, we have a fungal disease that badly affects apricots. So much so a winter pruning can and does end up killing some trees, I just had to replace one that had only been in the ground over winter (3 months old in the ground) because the farm knicked it when pulling it out of the ground and it bleed out when it woke up because of the disease and killed it. Something some people might want to think about.
How's it going with the summer pruning?
@@TheBusyGardener went well, did it over 2 to 3 days a few weeks ago. Not sure I was aggressive enough. But the beauty of trees is I can fix that next year and they won't care. Already starting to see more growth after the prune.
We are looking forward to next summer as our first real fruit crops should start.
Is it okay to prune a lemon or lime tree that has fruit on it?
Totally OK! Actually, it's ok for other trees too. The only downside is losing the fruit on the limbs you prune. But lemon and lime are so productive it's not usually a huge loss.
Alright, so I planted new trees on July 1st. I'm thinking I killed em because I lopped the top off and made them knee height. Did I mess up?
You shouldn't have killed them. Give them a little time to push out growth. I've never killed a young/new tree from a topping cut (80 trees planted)
You still need to do regular pruning on top of the summer pruning, right?