Cutting trees back, too late ?

[Newishgardener]

Hi everyone,

I have recently taken on an orchard at the back of my existing allotment plot there are roughly about 8-9 trees I know there is one cherry tree a couple of damson trees a plumb tree that looks more like a bush and a few apple trees and I beleive there may be a pear tree or two.

I live in the midlands (sandiacre Nottingham to be more precise) and have a dilemma I have been reading up on cutting them back and thinning them out I have whole branches that I want to take off and the cherry tree is way too tall and needs reducing in size some sites I have read are saying you have to do this in winter when they are dormant and others are saying to do it is spring as they are coming alive again which is right ? And is it too late to do anything with them this year ?

Thanks in advance for any help 😊

[Guest]

There are a few fruity grapes here who I am sure will be a long soon. However some general rules for fruit trees are

Prune stone fruit after they have fruited (to avoid disease as they are very susceptible)
Prune apples and pears in winter when they are dormant to encourage growth.
(Prune apples and pears in summer to weaken/ restrict growth and encourage fruiting, I wouldn't worry too much about summer pruning yet)
Remove dead, diseased and damaged.
Do not remove more than a third of the branches a year or you could shock the tree. (think long term)

I hope this helps

[fishpond]

The only thing I would add to the above post is:-
Remove dead, diseased and damaged. & crossing..
Otherwise perfect advice.

[FB.]

Prune apples and pears in winter when they are dormant to encourage growth.
(Prune apples and pears in summer to weaken/ restrict growth and encourage fruiting, I wouldn't worry too much about summer pruning yet)

I'd like to clarify the second point about summer pruning:-
Only new, current-season's shoots should be pruned in summer; older wood should be left unpruned until winter unless something life-threatening is spreading rapidly through a branch, such as canker or fireblight.

[Newishgardener]

Brilliant very helpful as always :-) thanks for the advice everyone I will hang fire with my pruning :-)

[Newishgardener]

Oh could I also clarify with the stone fruit I assume that includes plumbs and cherries it was said that they can be trimmed once they have fruited so does that mean as soon as the fruit has fallen ? So potentially mid to late summer ?

[Alison]

I've always pruned plums and cherries in May / June time

[Martin H]

I've always pruned plums and cherries in May / June time

I did mine a couple of weeks ago - my book says to winter prune just as growth starts in spring.

[janzbro]

I did mine in early march by mistake as was doing apples and pears and got carried away and for about summer pruning of stone fruit.

Seems to have done them the world of good , loads of leaves opening (hardley any last year but they were only in a year), probably no fruit (still only 2 years old now) but just glad they arent dead but we will see how they fair.

I just starting out with my mini orchard, so what do I know

[Guest]

Sorry for the delay I haven't had any internet since I last posted. Last year for my plums it was around August time for me. However my cherries are finished well before then. It is a case of them being in a growth period to avoid disease and you don't lose potential fruit at the end of the season. There is probably more reasons to it but I am yet to learn those