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apples

Pruning: Fruit Trees and Blueberries

February 25, 2019

“How can I get more usable fruit from my home landscape?” When I hear this question, the problem is often that the gardener hasn’t properly pruned their fruit trees or bushes! Thinning early in the season prevents overproduction, which can result in smaller fruit, and increased tree breakage, destructive insects, and disease problems.

Now is the time to prune blueberries, and you can prune apple, pear, and plum trees from now through late March!

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Apples
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Pears
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Plums

General Pruning Recommendations for Fruit Trees

NOTE: As you follow these steps do not remove more than 30 percent of the tree in one season. Regardless of what portion of the tree you prune, do not leave a stub!

  • Remove all broken, damaged, or diseased branches—when cutting back a branch, always cut back to another branch or a bud.
  • Prune out all suckers—suckers are branches that grow straight up.  They may grow from the trunk or branches.
  • Remove any branches that are so low that they interfere with your movement around the tree.
  • If two branches cross and rub against one another, remove one.
  • Thin branches on the interior of the tree. You should be able to throw a softball through the tree without it hitting a branch, limb, or fruiting spur!
  • Later in the season, thin fruit when they are about the size of a nickel. Remove enough fruit so that the remaining ones are spaced about 4 to 6 inches apart along the branch.

General Pruning Recommendations for Blueberries

 We grow two varieties of blueberries in Western North Carolina: Highbush (Vaccinium corymbosum), which grow 6 to 12 feet tall and can produce berries more than 1 inch wide and Rabbiteye (V. ashei or V. virgatum) which can grow up to 15 feet tall!

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Blueberries

According to Bill Cline, Plant Pathology Department, NCSU, for new plantings of Highbush and Rabbiteye:

  • Immediately after planting, always prune or rub off all flowering buds and cut height back ½ to 2/3.
  • In late winter of the second year, remove low-lying or weak shoots and cross-overs, keeping the healthiest, large upright canes. If your plants grew vigorously, allow some flower buds to produce fruit.
  • In late winter of the third year, prune out any weak, damaged, or diseased growth and remove 40 to 50 percent of the flower buds. Begin selecting new basal shoots that will replace older canes.

To achieve maximum yield and sustain the health of your established (> 3 years old) blueberries, Cline recommends the following:

“STEP ONE: Define the crown. Pruning starts at the ground, not at the top of the bush. Visualize a circle 12 to 18 inches in diameter around the crown of the bush, and remove ALL shoots of any age that have emerged from the ground outside the circle.

STEP TWO: Remove low-angled canes and crossovers. Low-angled canes that are too close to the ground are undesirable because the fruit is more likely to contact the ground, or to be contaminated by rain-splashed soil. Remove these low-lying branches, and also any canes that angle through the bush (crossovers).

STEP THREE: Open the center. If needed, remove one to three large canes from the center of the bush to reduce crowding, improve air circulation and phase out older canes. Old canes to target for removal are larger and grayer in color, and are more likely to be covered with a fuzzy growth of foliose lichens.

STEP FOUR: Thinning and heading back. As a blueberry cane ages, it branches repeatedly, resulting in smaller and smaller diameter lateral twigs in successive years. If left unpruned, this results in excessive numbers of unproductive, matchstick-sized shoots, each with a few tiny berries. To avoid reaching this stage, thin canes by making cuts to selectively remove clumps of twiggy, brushy-looking, matchstick-sized laterals. At this time also cut (head back) any long whips or canes that are too tall.”

It may be hard to prune out so many blooms, but you’ll soon see the results are worth it!

Article by Bob Wardwell Buncombe County Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer

Training and Pruning Fruit Trees in North Carolina https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/static/publication/js/pdf_js/web/viewer.html?slug=training-and-pruning-fruit-trees-in-north-carolina

Producing Tree Fruit for Home Use

https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/producing-tree-fruit-for-home-use

Pruning Blueberries

https://growingsmallfarms.ces.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Pruning-Blueberrries-25JAN14.pdf?fwd=no

 

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Categories Vegetables & Fruits Tags apples, blueberries, fruit trees, pears, plums, pruning

High Density Orchards Advance Apple Growing: Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center Tells How

February 26, 2018

Until I talked with Dr. Tom Kon, Southeastern Apple Research Specialist at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center in Mills River, NC, “apple orchard” meant my grandfather’s orchard planted by his great-grandmother in the 19th century. When I was a child in the 1950s, its gracious canopies were producing varieties like ‘Melba,’ ‘Yellow Transparent,’ ‘Macoun,’ and ‘Worthy.’ But today, thanks to Dr. Kon’s research, apple growing has advanced far beyond my memories.

Mtn Horticultural Research & Extension Center_High Density Orchard in Bloom
High density apple orchard in bloom at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research & Extension Center

Dr. Kon spends 80 percent of his time researching new varieties and methods of growing apples and 20 percent of his time on Extension, working closely with North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia apple growers.

The work of Dr. Kon and the Extension Center is especially valuable in our area where apple growing is such an important industry to Western North Carolina. According to the North Carolina Apple Growers Association: “NC ranks seventh in apple production in the United States, has over 200 commercial apple operations comprised of 9,000 bearing acres of apple orchards, and produces up to 4 million bushels of apples in a given year. Apples are produced in four areas of the state around the Henderson, Haywood, Wilkes, and Cleveland [County] areas.”

Mountain Horticultural Crops Research & Extension Center_Pruning a high density orchard
Pruning a high density apple orchard

An interview with Dr. Kon

Q:  What is the biggest challenge facing apple growers?

A:  One of the greatest challenges our growers face is a growing labor shortage. Apple production requires significant labor inputs throughout the growing season and there are uncertainties regarding reliable access to a legal workforce. As a result, more apple growers are adopting high density orchard systems that lend themselves to mechanization and automation.

Q:  What do you mean by a high-density system?

A:  It means planting a greater number apple trees per acre (about 800 to 1,200). What makes this possible is improved dwarfing rootstocks that have profound effects on tree growth and productivity. As part of a regional rootstock research project, we (Dr. Mike Parker and I) are evaluating the performance of over 30 apple rootstocks at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center here and in Blairsville, Georgia.

Q:  What are the benefits to growers?

A:  Planting a greater number of trees per acre on dwarfing rootstocks results in greater yields in early years, less complex canopy architectures with improved light distribution, improved fruit quality, and improved land use efficiency. Those large, hulking apple trees that your grandfather grew were lovely, but needed 5 years or more before they produced a crop. Dwarf trees can produce a crop in two or three years, depending on the variety. For the apple grower, that means a much quicker return on the investment.

Q:  What kind of investment are you talking about?

A:  Establishment costs of high density orchards are relatively high due to tree number, tree support systems, and irrigation. These inputs can exceed $15,000 per acre. However, many of these costs can be recovered early in the life of the orchard, due to the higher value of early production and improved fruit quality.

Q:  What kind of equipment is used in high density orchards?

A:  Until recently, the major innovation in apple harvest technology occurred when we switched from wooden to metal ladders. Ladders can be dangerous, particularly in an orchard where the ground is uneven. The adoption of high density orchard systems has resulted in the development of labor saving technologies, such as mobile labor platforms, that improve worker safety. Modern orchard systems are compatible with new technologies, reduced use of pesticides, and increased production.

To find out more about the work of Dr. Tom Kon and his team, visit the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center website throughout the year.

Article written by Janet Moore, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer.

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Categories Extension in Buncombe County Tags apples, Mountain Horticultural Crops Research & Extension Center

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