Why pruning plums in the spring is important

Timing for trimming

According to experts, the shoots are beneficial to the tree. Since young shoots help him get the nutrients necessary for full growth and development, and also form new branches. Still, pruning plums in the spring is necessary in order to get not only a large harvest, but also to be able to enjoy high-quality, large and tasty fruits.

Pruning young trees on the pattern

If pruning plums, like cherries, is correct, then all the substances useful for its development will not go to the shoots, but to the fruits, where they will accumulate and contribute to the production of excellent fruits in the future. If you do not carry out timely annual pruning of excess branches, the fruit tree may die. All experienced gardeners know the property of plums to grow quickly, so you should control not only the number of branches, but also their size, angle in relation to the trunk.

It is correct to prune plums, like cherries, in the spring, since the tree in this case manages to heal the wounds received before it gets cold. It is also necessary to carry out pruning without waiting for the spring movement of the juice. When pruning, the tree sap will be used to form new branches, and will not feed old or sick ones. Summer or autumn pruning is considered more preferable only when the winter was very cold and harsh. With proper pruning of plums, like cherries, in the spring it is necessary to act carefully so as not to cause tangible harm to the fruit crop. It is best to schedule this activity during the period when the air temperature rises above _10 degrees. If you use a special saw, you can make a large, but neat cut, after which do not forget to process it for the purpose of prevention.

Video "Works in Spring"

Pruning and caring for young plums

For young plums, like cherries, the first pruning at the seedling stage, in the first year of its existence, is of enormous importance. Indeed, it is during this period that the gardener is determined not only with the shape of the tree, but also decides how long its branches should be in order to evenly cut them in subsequent years. If you cut the plum right after planting in your own garden, the tree will not grow at the wrong angle and waste resources on unnecessary branches. The root system of a young tree is capable of rapid recovery. How is it necessary to act in order to correctly carry out the pruning of a tree in the spring?

The first step is to reduce the lower branch to a good bud; for this, the upper part is cut off, on which there are underdeveloped, just appeared, buds. The branches that remain, all except the main one, are pruned to the level of the cut of the lower branch. In order to give the crown a beautiful pyramidal shape, the main conductor should be cut so that it rises approximately 25 centimeters, or lower than the rest of the branches if you plan to make a spreading crown.In order to correctly form the skeleton of the crown, branches that have grown in the wrong direction are tilted so that they are in a special semi-skeletal position, or they are cut off. Thus, pruning of plums, like cherries, is carried out with the arrival of spring, repeating all the above manipulations until all the branches of a young tree grow in the right direction, forming a crown of a given shape.

Experts advise creating a sparse-tiered crown shape, the height of the trunk of which will be about 40 cm, leaving about three branches on the first tier, two on the second, and one branch on all the others. It is also important to remove root shoots as they tend to weaken the plum's forces and can become a source of infestation. When a year has passed, in the spring you need to cut the trunk over a good bud, and then again shorten the side branches by a third of the length. This is how the pruning scheme for a young plum tree looks like.

How to rejuvenate an old tree

The old plum is pruned in spring in order to prolong its fruiting period as long as possible, as well as to rejuvenate the tree. If you carry out this procedure, then you can not only collect fruits for several more years, but also get fruits that are almost the same in taste and size as in the first years of the life of a fruit crop.

What does the scheme of pruning an old tree look like in the spring? It is necessary to remove all those branches that touch the bark of the rest. Since they not only press adjacent branches, but also do not allow nutrients to enter their vessels normally. It is also customary for plums, like cherries, to cut off those branches that grow in the wrong direction - inside the crown that has formed. It is imperative to remove not only old, but also dry, sick branches. It is also necessary to shorten the shoots - you can determine how much this should be done if you know the average growth per year for each fruit tree.

When the plum stops growing and grows old, it requires rejuvenating pruning. To begin with, it is customary to remove all branches that have appeared in four years. The trimming scheme described above is used. This procedure is best done again three years after the first pruning. The repeated removal of excess branches from an old plum tree, like cherries, is directed to those branches that have reached the age of six years. The cut points should be well leveled, since the old fruit tree is not able to heal wounds in a short time, as well as grow new branches. It is best to process the cut site with a knife, and then cover with a special oil red, the basis of which is linseed oil. To do this, the sections on the branches are thickly smeared with this paint so that the tree can tighten the resulting wounds as quickly as possible.

Video "Practical tips for pruning plums"

The video provides useful tips and tricks to help shape and properly prune your tree in spring.