The compost fruit grower will undoubtedly want to do the majority of his pruning in the summer because the nice succulent laterals which are then cut off can go on to the compost heap to make good manure. The woody prunings removed in the winter are best burnt unless they can be put into a shredding machine which will so pulverize them and tear them apart that they can be rotted down with a good activator like fish manure or poultry manure.
A leader that is, shall we say, 18 inches long, might be cut back by about 8 inches; a leader, on the other hand, only 10 inches long, might be reduced to about 4 inches.
The only thing against pruning in the summer is that this is a busy time for the gardener. By adopting, however, the ShewellCooper Lorette method it is possible to spread the work over a thirteen-week period.
The pruning starts in June the moment some of the laterals are 7 or 8 inches long. No lateral is cut back until it reaches this length and until it is, as the gardeners have it, 'semi-mature'. At this stage of, say, 8 inches, the lateral is pruned back to within an inch of its base with a pair of sharp secateurs, say a Wilkinson's or a Rolcut. It must be emphasized that the laterals that have not reached the length of 7 or 8 inches must be left alone, and if there should be readers who cannot believe that a side shoot must be cut back so hard then may I reiterate the words 'to within an e inch of their base', that is to say, the base of the one-year-old shoot concerned.
Because you have to leave the laterals until they reach the right condition, it does mean that the trees have had to be gone over, say, every three weeks from the middle of June until the end of September.
The breaking off of the laterals, it is claimed, discourages secondary growth because the ends of the severed portion are left rough. Incidentally, redcurrants are always brutted just before the berries start to ripen. - 15266
A leader that is, shall we say, 18 inches long, might be cut back by about 8 inches; a leader, on the other hand, only 10 inches long, might be reduced to about 4 inches.
The only thing against pruning in the summer is that this is a busy time for the gardener. By adopting, however, the ShewellCooper Lorette method it is possible to spread the work over a thirteen-week period.
The pruning starts in June the moment some of the laterals are 7 or 8 inches long. No lateral is cut back until it reaches this length and until it is, as the gardeners have it, 'semi-mature'. At this stage of, say, 8 inches, the lateral is pruned back to within an inch of its base with a pair of sharp secateurs, say a Wilkinson's or a Rolcut. It must be emphasized that the laterals that have not reached the length of 7 or 8 inches must be left alone, and if there should be readers who cannot believe that a side shoot must be cut back so hard then may I reiterate the words 'to within an e inch of their base', that is to say, the base of the one-year-old shoot concerned.
Because you have to leave the laterals until they reach the right condition, it does mean that the trees have had to be gone over, say, every three weeks from the middle of June until the end of September.
The breaking off of the laterals, it is claimed, discourages secondary growth because the ends of the severed portion are left rough. Incidentally, redcurrants are always brutted just before the berries start to ripen. - 15266
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To make sure you get unbruised fruits from the fruit trees in your garden that will taste their best and keep for the maximum amount of time, treat them as though you were handling eggs.
