When and Why Prune?
Pruning fruit trees is the removal, using hand tools and/or machines, of any part of the plant such as branches, roots and even parts of the trunk.
It is of fundamental importance before we start the process of pruning our trees to know what our objective is with them, especially because each cut is a wound on which the plant will spend energy to heal and heal. And as we are talking about fruit trees, we probably want them to produce more and better fruit and be easily accessible!
Pruning for each species does not necessarily have to be the same, everything will depend on the age of the tree, its development, its state of health, sun exposure, geographic location, etc. As there is a great diversity of climate, geographical location of land and other possible situations, in Portugal, despite being a relatively small country, the climate is very different in Trás-os-Montes or even in Beiras, than in Alentejo or Algarve, which can influence the choice or the best time to prune fruit trees. However, there are 2 types of pruning that can be done on our trees:
Winter Pruning or Dry Pruning:
This must be practiced after the leaves have fallen and the purpose of orientation pruning is to encourage the accumulation of reserve substances in the trunk and roots. When pruning before leaf fall, part of the carbohydrate reserves are eliminated, with consequences for future productivity. On the other hand, pruning carried out after the flower and leaves have sprouted reduces the plant's vigor and the branches are more subject to infection.
Dry pruning, practiced during the rest period, eliminates branches that have already borne fruit in species where they do not bear fruit again. It also eliminates thieves or vegetative, diseased and excess branches.
When carrying out dry or winter pruning, the location of the orchard, the weather conditions and the danger of late frosts must be considered before the operation. Pruning should begin with early cultivars, moving on to those with normal sprouting and ending with late cultivars. In regions subject to late frosts, the start of pruning should be delayed as long as possible, even when the plants have already sprouted considerably.
Summer Pruning or Green Pruning:
Green or summer pruning is carried out when the plant is vegetating, that is, during the period of vegetation, flowering, fruiting and fruit maturation and is intended to ventilate the canopy, improve sunlight, improve the quality and color of fruits, maintain the shape of the crown by removing parts of the plant and reducing the intensity of cuts during winter pruning. It is also used on evergreen plants (with permanent leaves) such as citrus, avocado and mango.
Green pruning consists of different operations, such as: pruning, thinning, defoliation, stripping, incisions and girdling, thinning, netting.