I prune branches of my potted or greenhouse Brown Turkey fig trees only as far back as their permanent trunks of a couple of feet or more in length.Īlso, not necessarily all the stems should be pruned back on figs, because some varieties also - or only - bear fruit on one-year-old stems. But not too, too far or the fruit will take too long to begin ripening. So the way to prune a fig tree - with caveats - is to lop back branches, which promotes new, fruit-bearing shoots. The most straightforward approach to pruning those fruit trees that absolutely benefit from annual (correct) pruning is by grouping them according to their fruit-bearing habits.įigs, for instance, are unique in being able to bear fruits on new, growing shoots. Fruits Borne on New Shoots and/or 1-Year-Stems (These are some of the uncommonly delectable fruits covered in my book Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden.) Trees such as juneberry and medlar are quite ornamental, so I also lop off or back wayward branches on these trees to keep them looking pretty. With that said, as I’ve pointed out previously, a number of fruit trees can get by with little or no pruning, nothing more than thinning out congested branches, cutting back diseased branches to healthy wood, and removing root sprouts.Īmong these easiest to prune fruit trees are persimmon, pawpaw, juneberry, jujube, quince, and medlar. This pruning also promotes year after year of good harvests (some fruit trees gravitate toward alternating years of feast and famine) and - most important - makes for the most luscious fruits.

Annual pruning keeps these trees healthy and keeps fruit within reach. Most fruit trees need to be pruned (correctly) every year. As is renovative pruning, which is the pruning of long-neglected trees.

The objectives and, hence, pruning of a young tree are another ball game. I mentioned flower buds, so these plants I’m pruning are mature, bearing plants. Again, this is “dormant pruning.” Yes, even though the trees’ flower buds are about to burst or have already done so, their response will still, for a while longer, be that to dormant pruning.

Following last week’s missive about pruning fruiting shrubs, I now move on to pruning my fruiting trees.

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