11 Fruit Trees You Should Prune Right After Harvest

The time period “fruit tree” is all-encompassing. Many woody timber produce edible fruits that we get pleasure from consuming. For max fruit manufacturing from these specimens, well timed pruning is essential. It’s an essential a part of a complete care routine.

Just a few deciduous timber admire pruning in late summer time and fall after harvest, although many of the species on this record are tropical growers that fruit on the finish of the season. It’s possible you’ll prune them whenever you harvest, as they’re actively making ready to develop one other crop for the following yr. 

Prune these fruit timber after harvest to form your tree, to promote fruiting, and to enhance the well being and vigor of your orchard. Annual pruning is a vital a part of caring for fruit timber. With out it, the specimens could outgrow the house, making it troublesome so that you can attain their fruits in the course of the harvest season!

Apricot

Apricots ripen from late spring by way of summer time earlier than most different stone fruits. Their flowers emerge early within the season, in late winter and spring. As an alternative of pruning them earlier than the buds swell, it’s finest to prune these fruits after harvest.

Pruning apricots in the summertime prevents nasty infections brought on by Eutypa. Eutypa is a genus of fungi that infects woody timber, inflicting dieback, oozing wounds, and cankers. It spreads by way of humid, wet climate that’s widespread in spring.

When pruning, begin by eradicating the three D’s: lifeless, broken, and diseased wooden. After eradicating the three D’s, make exact cuts to take care of the cover at an simply reachable top. Take away criss-crossing limbs, weak branches, and crowded shoots. 

Avocado

Avocados are warm-weather lovers that develop finest in tropical and subtropical areas of the U.S. They ripen at numerous occasions of the yr, relying on their selection. Some, like ‘Hass’, mature from April by way of October, whereas others, like ‘Corona,’ end in the summertime. 

Avocado timber are likely to kind robust branches that hardly ever want pruning for form. To prune these fruit timber after harvest, merely decrease the peak of the tallest limbs. It’s finest to maintain your avocado tree between 10 and 15 ft for straightforward harvesting and most fruit manufacturing. 

Fig

Figs are scrumptious. Some varieties have two harvests a yr, whereas others have a single choosing interval. It’s finest to prune them in winter earlier than new progress happens. Decide any long-standing fruit that persists on the branches, then make cuts to take away crossing branches and suckers from the bottom.

Keep away from pruning figs within the fall, as you could open them as much as winter harm throughout frosty climate. Decide their fruit, then wait to prune till the leaves fall off. In warm-winter areas, the figs could ripen lengthy into the winter. 

It’s possible you’ll take away unruly, quick-growing branches with out fruit at any time of the yr. Figs are like hazelnuts; they kind dense thickets over time with many branches sprouting from their base. The fruits require an annual prune after harvest to look and carry out their finest.

Grapefruit

Citrus timber, like grapefruits, ripen late within the rising season from autumn into winter. Leaving the grapefruits on the tree helps them develop sweeter and extra tasty. In case you depart them on the tree, you could prune the tree’s branches shortly after harvesting the fruit. 

Growers with chilly winters ought to wait to trim their timber till spring or early summer time. Frosty climate can injure the limbs and trigger extreme dieback. In all different areas, make cuts after harvesting earlier than new flowers emerge. 

You received’t must prune grapefruits as closely as apples. Take away the three D’s, and scale back the peak of the tree if it’s too tall for harvesting.

Guava

Guava timber are heat-loving specimens that produce bushels of fruit. They develop effectively in tropical areas of the U.S., in components of Florida, Hawaii, and California. 

Guavas are likely to have two ripening seasons. They bear fruit as soon as in spring and once more within the fall. It’s possible you’ll prune the timber after both harvesting interval. Form them so you’ll be able to attain the guavas, and take away any suckers to forestall thickets from forming. 

Reducing a guava stem causes extra to develop. The place you chop the one shoot, two or extra new ones will seem after pruning. Use this to your benefit to form a single-trunk specimen right into a productive and bushy tree. 

Kumquat

Kumquats are not like every other citrus fruit you’ve eaten. They’ve tart flesh, edible peels, and a small measurement. Pop them in your mouth for a tasty deal with, or chop them into jams, jellies, and sauces.

As with different citrus, kumquats start forming on the finish of the rising season. You’ll decide them from fall by way of spring, and prune their branches proper after the harvest interval.

Most kumquats keep between three and 6 ft tall, they usually require minimal pruning. Take away the three D’s, and depart wholesome branches for optimum fruit manufacturing. 

Lemon

Tart lemons are important in house kitchens. Use their juice, flesh, and rind for flavoring dressings, desserts, drinks, and cooked meals. Lemon timber develop finest in heat areas of the U.S. that don’t have vital frosts throughout winter.

They take to pruning like kumquats and grapefruits. They don’t want a lot, however these fruits do profit from a prune after harvest. Harvest the lemons after they’re yellow and aromatic, then prune the woody stems shortly after.

Take care when trimming the stems. Many citrus timber, together with lemons and limes, have thorns on them. Put on gloves, look the place you’re pruning, and placed on a long-sleeved shirt to guard your pores and skin.

Lime

Limes want sizzling temperatures to carry out their finest. Most develop effectively on their very own; you received’t must prune them outdoors of eradicating lifeless or diseased wooden. Plant them outdoor in heat states, or develop them in pots and produce them indoors for the winter.

Limes are prepared to reap in the course of the colder months, from fall by way of spring. Depart the fruit on the stems till they’re inexperienced, then decide the limes and produce them indoors. To prune fruits after harvest, trim the thorny branches shortly after the harvest interval, earlier than new blooms emerge. 

Lychee

Lychees are rising in reputation within the U.S. These fruit timber produce spherical, small fruits with pink, knobby pores and skin. Inside, their flesh is white and jelly-like. 

Lychees are simple fruit timber to prune after harvest. The fruit ripens in clusters, and also you’ll must trim the stems to reap the bunches. You’ll successfully prune the tree by harvesting the lychees after they’re prepared. 

You probably have a lackluster yr with out many lychees on the tree, prune the stem ideas on the finish of the rising season. This helps encourage ample fruit manufacturing the following yr. 

Mango

Mangoes are stuffed with wealthy, golden yellow flesh that’s candy and scrumptious. They’re unimaginable tropical fruit timber within the house backyard. Watch as their tall, reaching branches create shade in your yard, then look forward to edible mangoes on the finish of the season!

With out pruning, mango timber attain spectacular heights. They could develop to 50 ft or taller when mature. Preserve them inside attain with annual cuts shortly after harvest. 

Prune again tall branches and enhance crowded areas by thinning extra progress. If the main limbs develop over 15 ft, minimize them again to decrease facet branches. 

Candy Cherry

Candy cherries don’t appear to belong on this record. They’re not tropical fruit timber, they usually develop finest in temperate areas with winter frosts. Their small, candy fruits mature from spring by way of summer time.