Hi I'm Tricia an organic gardener, I grow organically for a healthy and safe food
supply,
for a clean and sustainable environment,
for an enjoyable and rewarding experience.
The fruit trees are dormant so its time to prune.
Today I'm going to prune this apple tree using the central leader training system.
There are three main fruit tree training systems.
Open vase
is wide and short, it takes up the most space but it's the best for fruits like
peaches and nectarines.
Central leader is tall and thin and takes up the least space.
Fruits like dwarf apples, pears, apples and Asian pears
like this training system.
Modified central leader is halfway between the two and it's the best for
persimmon, cherries and apricots.
Anything that likes center leader likes modified central leader too.
Central leader trees
end up up looking like a cone or like a Christmas tree.
They have one upright trunk and whirl of scaffold branches coming off the leader.
These trees may be taller but they fit better in narrow spaces.
Central leader trees are not recommended for high wind areas or places where
there's fire blight.
To start
I'm going to pick the strongest upright shoot to be my leader
and then I'm going to prune any competing shoots.
Next, I'm going to choose my permanent scaffold branches
and then I'm going to label them with this ribbon.
The first scaffold branches should come off the tree
from about eighteen to twenty four inches from the ground.
Look for branches
that are coming off the trunk at a forty five to sixty degree angle.
Branches that have an angle to the trunk of less than forty five degrees are often
weak and
will break under the load of fruit or snow.
Each of the scaffolding branches
should be in a different quadrant of the tree and none should be right on top of the
other,
and you want eight to ten inches
between scaffolding branches.
If you have a well-placed branch
but it comes off the trunk at less than forty five degrees you can use a spreader to
position it.
I've chosen my scaffolding branches, so I'm going to prune the other branches with a
thinning cut.
Notice the collar that goes around the branch
that's attached to the trunk you want to make your cut as close to the collars as
possible without cutting into the collar. You also don't want to cut to far out
because then you'll leave a stub.
Now I'm going to head back the scaffolding branches to a nice outward facing bud.
I'm gonna leave little spurs like this 'cause this likely will bear fruit.
Head the tree back to about twenty inches
from the highest scaffolding branch.
Now that I've pruned the tree I'm going to position the branches with spreaders.
A simple way
to spread little branches is with a clothes pin.
For bigger branches you can use a burlap sling
with a brick or a rock.
Make a small burlap sling to avoid girdling the branch.
Attach a piece of twine to your burlap sling,
get the desired angle of spread,
and then tie it off
to the brick or the rock.
The end goal of a central leader tree is to have four tiers of
four branches.
The top scaffolds should be shorter than the bottom
and the tree should have a cone or pyramid shape.
Pruning is easy if you plan ahead so,
take care of your trees
train them,
and grow organic for life!