The most important time for regular pruning of apple trees is the winter rest period between December and February. However, if necessary, a second cut should be carried out in summer to regulate size and shoots.
What is the purpose of summer pruning on an apple tree?
Summer pruning of an apple tree is aimed at directing growth energy into fruits, correcting pruning errors from winter and caring for the tree crown. To do this, water shoots, dense twigs and inward-facing branches should be removed and diseased and dead plant parts should be removed.
Correcting cutting errors from winter
Winter is a very suitable time for pruning apple trees, not only because of the sap dormancy. Without foliage, the lines of branches and twigs can also be clearly seen, so that the crown of the tree can be clearly captured visually. However, it is sometimes not until early summer that incorrect decisions from winter pruning become apparent, which can then be corrected with summer pruning. Signs of diseases such as mildew should also be addressed with immediate pruning measures in summer. In summer, even dry branches in the treetop can be identified and easily removed more easily than in winter.
Direct the growth energy into the fruits
With heavy winter pruning, there is sometimes a strong stimulation of new shoots on an apple tree. This becomes apparent in early summer at the latest, when hundreds of jets of water sometimes shoot into the sky from the top of the treetop. However, this costs the tree a lot of energy, which it would also need to produce fruit. Unless these water shoots are needed as scions for copulation the following winter, they should be removed as soon as possible in the summer. At the same time, pruning the water shoots will encourage the emergence of new buds and shoots for the next spring.
Use the summer cut for care
When you set up the ladder on the apple tree for summer pruning, you should also use it for further care if possible. In general, you should be careful not to carry out summer pruning when it is too hot and dry, and you should also water the tree thoroughly afterwards. When pruning in summer, look for dense areas in the tree crown and inward-facing branches and remove them. In addition, fruit mummies resulting from fungal diseases can now be removed without much additional effort.
Tips & Tricks
When pruning in summer, you should also check the fruit on the tree. If there are a lot of fruits on the tree in one year, you can promote the ripening of the remaining fruits by thinning them out or support branches that are too weak with a wooden support.
