Property News · August 27, 2016

How to prune summer fruiting trees | Alys Fowler


Alys Fowler on the benefits of an oft-forgotten taskAmorning poking around one of my favourite gardens reminded me that my stepover apples need a prune. They are dancing wildly around their wires, going hell for leather to become the tree they secretly want to be. Poor stepovers.Summer pruning is an essential if oft forgotten task for more than just stepovers, espaliers and other restricted fruit trees. Plums, cherries, apricots, almonds and other prunus species are also pruned between July and August to reduce silverleaf, a fungal disease caused by Chondrostereum purpureum. The leaves become covered in a slivery sheen and eventually the branch will die. A bracket-shaped fungus (white and woolly above and purple-brown with spores) often appears on older, dead branches. The most infectious spores are produced in winter under damp conditions, so the idea is to prune now when there are fewer spores and the pruning wound can heal quickly. You can remove dead, diseased or badly placed branches as well as crown lifting (removing the lower branches) for better access under the tree. Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
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