Pruning plums is a difficult but important step in growing this crop. If the trees are not given proper attention, they will lose their attractive appearance, and their productivity will decrease. Therefore, unproductive and old shoots are cut off, providing the plant with suitable conditions for development.
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General pruning principles
Pruning is needed to stimulate fruiting and plum formation. An overly dense crown reduces yields and causes the tree to freeze in winter. If you do not remove excess branches, they will impede the free passage of sunlight.
The seedlings are pruned at planting, after which the action is repeated annually. Crown formation is carried out up to 15 years, and older crops are cleared only of dried or diseased shoots. Young and productive branches are left on the tree - in this case, the plum continues to bear fruit for many years.
The first pruning is done at the beginning of the spring season, provided that the air is not cooled to negative temperatures, and the buds remain dormant. Frozen, broken or poorly formed shoots should be removed in the spring. In addition, at this time, you can perform a planned crown pruning with a decrease in the length of the last year's increments.
In the southern regions, pruning begins at the end of winter, provided that the air is warmed up to + 10 ° C.
Trees up to 5 years old are subjected to enhanced crown molding. To do this, on annual seedlings, the trunk zone is determined (as a rule, at a distance of 40-60 cm from the ground), and then the top is cut off. The next year, with the help of the kidneys, which are located above the trunk, the first tier is created. 2-4 shoots are left on the plant, which grow at an angle of 60 degrees. All branches in the trunk area are cut into a ring.
Someone prefers bowl-shaped crowns. In this case, it is worth leaving 3-4 shoots at a height of 40-50 cm from the soil level. The central shoot is cut out in such a formation.
You need to cut the plum with sharp and high-quality tools, and the cut points should be covered with a disinfecting solution.
Summer and autumn pruning
In the summer, the crop is cut at the stage of planting a seedling. The procedure consists in cutting out the central conductor (main trunk) by 1/3 and then shortening the lateral branches by 2/3.
Mature plums are pruned in the first half of summer. Such care is intended for sanitary purposes and is performed according to the following algorithm:
- Remove frozen branches that were not seen in the spring. They can be identified by the absence of flowers and green fruits.
- Cut vertically growing branches and branches with signs of disease into a ring.
Horizontally growing shoots are not pruned.
In the summer, the tree quickly recovers, and the cut sites heal without the use of disinfecting compounds.
Autumn treatments are scheduled for mid-September and early October after the leaves fall. Long and rapidly growing branches should be shortened by 1/3 so that they are not damaged by wind or snow. Often, gardeners also cut off the apical shoots. All damaged or broken branches are removed, because they are exposed to freezing.
In old plums, dry and diseased branches are cut off.
Caring for old plums
If your garden has old trees (over 15 years old), you can clean them of skeletal branches in early spring. The cuts should be disinfected and treated with special solutions. The next year, the culture will form new shoots.
There are some differences in the care of a columnar drain. Fruits on these plants form along the trunk, so all side shoots can be cut out every year.
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