How to prune apples and pears for better crops and healthier trees
Growing apples and pears isn’t straightforward, especially concerning pruning. I don’t have any pears, but the technique is the same. First, an introduction to my trees, in age-before-beauty order. There’s my 50+-year-old tree grown from what I think was a Cox’s pip, sown by me when I was eight in my parents’ back yard and carted to this house in a tub. Read more about the best fruit trees for your garden.
I’m too sentimental to chop it down, but I know I should. It’s riddled with canker and woolly aphid. It rarely bore a crop and suffered from my disastrously ill-informed attempts at pruning. However, with persistence over the years and restorative pruning spread out over several years, it is now a reliable cropper of delicious, tart apples.
Things get much better with the Red Falstaff, bought as a gift about a decade ago. It’s in a half barrel, now surrounded by a raised bed. I have it pruned, so it is virtually wall-trained.
Even better is the crab apple John Downie, bought as my leaving gift from the Sunderland Echo in 2012. Every year it bears fruit, only to be eaten by the birds before I can make crab apple jelly. To see a wonderful little orchard in action, visit Helmsley Walled Garden in North Yorkshire – here’s my review of this exceptional community treasure.
Growing apples and pears – When to prune
Pruning is something I have to look up every year. All apples and pears are pruned in summer, winter, or both, depending on the age and type of tree. Summer pruning is mainly for trained trees: cordons, espaliers, fans, pyramids and spindlebushes. This also applies if space is restricted or the tree is grown in a container. Trees grown as standards or bushes are usually managed with winter pruning.
Also, find out where your tree bears its fruit. It will be a spur-bearer, tip-bearer, or partial tip-bearer (yes, it is confusing!) Most cultivated apples are tip-bearers, but don’t chance it. You may cut off all your potential fruit. Look up your variety and find out. I have a shortlist of some of the common types below. It’s best to prune a partial tip-bearer like a spur-bearer, as it has spurs.
Winter pruning – November to early March
1. Prune bush and standard trees every year to ensure a good crop the following season. The aim is to create an open goblet shape with a framework of about five main branches.
2. You’ll need sharp secateurs, loppers and a pruning saw. Start by removing the three ‘Ds’ – dead, diseased and damaged branches. Then move on to any which are crossing and rubbing, leading to open wounds, then any weak stems. If you do nothing else, this will improve your tree.
3. Keep the centre open by removing larger branches with a pruning saw. If a tree is neglected and several branches need to be taken out, spread the work over two or three winters. This improved my old tree no end.
4. Reduce the height of branches that have grown too big by cutting them back to a vigorous lower branch. Make sure this is at least one-third of the diameter of the branch being cut out.
5. Spur-bearing/partial tip bearing varieties: Shorten the previous year’s growth on main branches by one-third to a bud facing in the required direction to encourage new branches and spurs. Cut back young laterals from the main framework to five or six buds. On older trees, remove any overcrowded spur systems.
6. Tip-bearing varieties: Prune last year’s growth on each main branch and the most vigorous laterals to the first strong bud. Leave unpruned laterals less than 30cm long. Cut back older fruited wood to a young shoot or leaf bud to reduce congestion.
Potted guide to growing apples and pears: spur and partial tip bearers
- APPLES: SPUR-BEARERS: Ashmead’s Kernel; Egremont Russet; Howgate Wonder; James Grieve; Braeburn; Lord Derby; Orange Pippin; Spartan.
- PARTIAL TIP-BEARERS: Adams Pearmain; Bramley; Blenheim Orange; Discovery: crab apple John Downie; Lord Lambourne; Red Falstaff; Worcester Pearmain.
- PEARS: SPUR -BEARERS: Concorde; Beurre Hardy; Conference; Doyenne du Comice; Onward; Sensation; Merton Pride; Williams Bon Chretien.
- PARTIAL TIP-BEARERS: Jargonelle; Josephine de Malines.
Summer pruning – late July-September
1. Prune when the bottom third of new shoots are stiff and woody. In NE England, this is generally the end of July/beginning of August for pears and the beginning of September for apples. Of course, this is a rough guide – follow what the tree is doing where you live.
2. The aim is to cut back new shoots to allow light to reach the fruit.
3. Cut back new shoots (laterals) more than 20cm long growing from the main stem to three leaves above the basal cluster of leaves. Do not prune new shoots that are less than 20cm long.
4. Cut back new shoots growing from existing side shoots to one leaf above the basal cluster.
5. Remove any upright, vigorous growth completely.
Growing apples and pears – Over-pruning and water shoots
I over-pruned the big apple tree in 2013, resulting in water shoots – upright, leafy branches, producing no fruit. This vigorous growth is a response if you remove more than a quarter of the canopy in a year. To solve the problem:
- Year 1: Remove water shoots growing directly from the trunk or from the lower parts of the main branches and cut away half of those remaining from their base. Then cut off the top 10cm of the remaining shoots to encourage branching.
- Year 2: Remove half the water shoots retained. Prune the remaining shoots to an outward-facing bud or branch.
- Year 3: Continue to prune to outward-facing buds or branches. Fruit buds should have started to form on new shoots. When this happens, revert to winter pruning.
- Year 4: Mulch trees in the spring following pruning, and feed with a general fertiliser.
