The Hort Report: Upcoming weather gives you time to prune fruit trees to increase production

The upcoming days are going to be seasonal with warm days and cool nights. There is still time to prune on your fruit trees, grapes and brambles.

When pruning cherry and peach trees, use the open vase/open face method of pruning. The branches and limbs grow out and away from the center of the tree. You need to have the middle of the tree open so air and sunlight can get in around the blooms. The fruit will grow better when pruning this way.    

When pruning, stand back and think what the tree will look like once you’re done. Remove all broken, damaged, dead and deformed looking branches and limbs, then prune off sucker or crown sprouts coming up from the base of the fruit tree. Prune off branches and limbs growing straight up from the center of the fruit tree and branches and limbs that hang down and get in the way when you are mowing the lawn. 

Prune branches and limbs that cross over and rub each other, as well as ones that grow inward to the middle of the tree or down towards the ground.  

Pick out two or four good strong looking branches coming out laterally, spaced evenly from the center of the tree and growing outward in different directions. It is best if they are about two to four feet apart going up the tree too. Off these branches, keep limbs that grow outward. This will help balance the tree. As the fruit grows, the weight won’t cause the tree to lean in one direction. This also might cause branches and limbs to break. 

If the fruit tree hasn’t been pruned for several years, you might need to prune more than normal. In the coming years, pruning will be easier, and you will have more fruit each year. 

As with any type of pruning, the first reason to prune is for greatest fruit production. Make sure you can reach all the fruit on the tree. It’s easier without having branches or limbs in the way. Do these things and you should have a great fruit harvest this year.

The first day of spring is only a few days away, and many things are going on. The first pollinators are starting to come out and starting a new generation. These pollinators need to feed off new plants. 

Many of these new plants are unwanted weeds and grasses. They grow in gravel driveways, gardens and flowerbeds. Many people want to kill them by spraying them. Many of you want to kill weeds and grasses when they are small and easier to kill and keep under control but let them grow for a few weeks — at least until you have grass and the perennial flowers, trees, bushes and shrubs start to bloom. The more blooms pollinators have to feed off of, the more pollinators will have to help pollinate everything that needs to be pollinated in the growing season.

You have a few days to get ready to be planting cool-season vegetables.

Make sure to have the soil worked a few days ahead so it is dry, not wet. Cover the seed with about ¼ to ½ inch of soil, making sure to have them in good soil contact. Onions need to be planted deeper. Firm up the soil around them. Cover and water them in.  

I appreciate all your questions in the past and look forward to them in the coming days. Thank you so much. Your questions help me learn more about things that help you and others. Call me at 573-588-2040, visit me at Shelby County Implement in Shelbina, Mo., email me at sci63468@hotmail.com or contact me on Facebook at Greenwell’s Greenhouse Group. Ask me anytime you see me.

Pat Greenwell is the owner of Shelby County Implement in Shelbina, Mo. He was a high school agriculture teacher for 11 years. He has taught adult vocational agriculture since 1987. He also is a research assistant at the Truman State University Ag Department Farm.