CONTROLLING TREE SIZE IN DENSE PLANTINGS BY WINTER AND SUMMER PRUNING

Special pruning systems were applied to control the canopy size of McIntosh and Macspur apple trees grafted on M.26 rootstocks planted at a density range from 950 to 1700 trees per ha and Jonathan and Wealthy trees grafted on Antonovka seedlings planted at 400 and 800 trees per ha.
Winter pruning involved removal of old branches at the tops of the trees and replacing them with annual shoots selected in summer or winter.

Pruning in winter to restrict canopy height and volume of 10 and 14-year-old trees did not reduce fruit yield in the overcrowded orchard.
Jonathan and Wealthy trees produced good yields on the annual shoots that replaced old branches.

The improvement of fruit quality was less than expected due to canopy shading by water shoots.
Winter and summer pruning combined together gave the best results.

Summer pruning, involving cutting back all shoots over 20 cm in length to 5 leaves, was used to control the size of sweet cherries and plums grafted on seedlings and planted at around 500 trees per ha.
The best results were obtained with pruning done in late July and early August.
Summer pruned trees were easily kept to the allotted space.
The trees were healthy and fruited well until a hard winter frost in 1986–87 killed them.

IV International Symposium on Research and Development on Orchard and Plantation Systems

A. Mika, M. Piatkowski

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1989.243.12