What’s the hardest thing, psychologically, for normally reasonable gardeners to do? For decades I have extolled folks to adopt some very straightforward and rewarding horticultural practices which, on first glance, seem counterintuitive.
Not talking about resisting new plants with unknown abilities to survive our climate, or raising the mower to have a thicker, fuller, less weedy lawn, or even being judgmental about how others prune their crape myrtles.
To me one of the hardest to convince folks of is something done routinely by commercial pecan, apple, pear, peach, plum, and fig growers: cut newly planted fruit trees to knee- or thigh-high; look at any fruit orchard, and notice all the trees have short trunks and a handful of main limbs, which is only possible through hard pruning.
I was raised in a large Delta garden that had a mixed orchard with the usual pecans, peaches, pears, muscadines, figs, and blueberries, plus more unique quince, jujube, pomegranate, Japanese persimmon, and pawpaw. To me they were normal garden plants that looked great most of the year and sometimes had stuff we could eat.
But part of my chores, besides mowing the lawn and dragging fallen limbs to the burn pile, was helping prune fruit trees and shrubs. Instead of fig trees and tall blueberry shrubs which required a ladder and garden rake for pulling branches down low enough to harvest, we had compact bushes that were easy to reach with both feet on the ground. I know from experience, observation, and fruit science training that cutting new plants back and routine size control and clutter thinning, in spite of the time and labor it takes, increases fruit production.
Cutting back that first year to between knee and thigh high (figs to just a foot or so tall) not only balances the top with the cut roots, helping the plants get established faster, but also forces new growth down lower, which is then thinned to the strongest, best-spaced 3-5 stems which will become strong “scaffold” limbs for the rest of the plants’ lives. Third, it often helps fruit plants start bearing heavier fruit loads, quicker.
To visualize the goal, imagine holding a ball in your hand, fingers pointed upward, then removing the ball leaving the fingers spread out and pointing up and outward. Or deer antlers.
After that, it’s a matter of cutting back tall stuff every year, then thinning out cluttered branches or twigs growing inward or competing with other stems. This leaves the trees compact and sturdy, and open for better sun penetration and air circulation.
Once a tree is trained this way the first year or two it is very easy to do this every year; if you have overgrown trees that have never been pruned, try giving them a whack when you can.
To help faster healing, don’t leave short stubs - cut very close to where the growth sprouts, and don’t apply anything to seal the wounds which actually causes problems with healing. Really. If you are pruning long or tall branches part-ways back, cut just past a bud pointing in the direction you want new growth.
All this is best done in winter, but as an edimental (edible + ornamental) gardener who enjoys flowers as much as fruit, I usually wait till after flowering so I and my pollinators can enjoy those, too. But I always go back and finish the job, no matter the un-horticultural angst.
Fruit plants belong in the garden, for their interesting shapes and spring flowers, and hopefully fruit later. Pruning them for shape should be as routine as mowing the lawn or shearing hedges.
Felder Rushing is a Mississippi author, columnist, and host of the “Gestalt Gardener” on MPB Think Radio. Visit his blog at felderrushing.blog. Email gardening questions to rushingfelder@yahoo.com.
