[sipherlucian]

hi folks i have a young apple tree 3 years old and a plum tree 8 years old, i never got a chance to prune them in autumn, will doing it now be of any benefit to the trees and fruit or is it too late?

[Greengage]

No Prune away I have not started mine yet, We have not even got to bud burst yet.

[tippben]

Don't prune the plum until July/August, depending on when it fruits. Winter pruning leaves it vulnerable to silver leaf disease. The apple, a bit late, but you'll get away with it.

[Greengage]

Doctors differ and patients die, but plums should be pruned early Spring or late summer, so the book says but sure not everything in the book is right, I will not get to prune my apple trees until next week or later ,dont know how it will effect the trees are they are still dormant.

[Sue Deacon]

Greengage, tipben define 'Winter' 'Spring'. sipherlucian might be confused at what seems like contradictory advice.

Get the apples done ASAP and there should be no problems. It is true that winter pruning can leave plums (and all Prunus) open to silverleaf, so unless there are dead or damaged stems on the plum, I would leave pruning until the summer. You never know - we might even have one this year!

[sipherlucian]

deadly thanks a lot for the advice you are all very good for responding, ill do the apple tree but i might leave the plum tree because i transferred it from another garden 2 years ago, it was quite a large plum tree so we decided not to prune it for a year or 2 to give it time to establish itself, id be afraid of giving it silver leaf now

[Greengage]

Sue explain Summer is that a new season

[Blowin]

Sipherlucian - I'll never challenge Tippben's authority on tree matters, and various fruit trees may benefit from differing pruning methods. I genuinely wouldn't know.

However, the basic way in which deciduous trees grow is as follows. It is said, although I've never tried to prove it, that each piece of growth above ground has an equivalent root below ground. Roots, as we all know, seek out nutrition and pass it up to the branches where it feeds the development of new growth, be it foliage or fruit. Each autumn, much of the sap drains back into the root stock, and hence why the leaves wither and fall off to provide a warm anti-frost covering during winter.

Now, this is where the principles of pruning begin. A branch cut off in summer will be full of sap, all of which is then lost to the tree, but the same branch pruned in winter will deprive the tree of far less nutrition. This is being stored down in the roots and will provide maximum vigour to any new shoots in spring and the fruit that they support. Exactly the same principle that obliges woodmen to delay woodcutting until November each year.