Pruning dates for fruit trees, roses
By By Steve Strong / area horticulture extension agent
Jan. 22, 2003
February is generally the last month of what is known as the winter dormant season in Mississippi. Dormancy offers gardeners a great time for pruning chores on both fruit trees and landscape ornamentals while the weather is still cool and before new growth begins.
Pruning can be done on muscadine vines anytime from December through March, and it is the best time of year to prevent excessive sap flow from the main trunk.
Muscadine and other types of grapes are usually cut back pretty severely every year to nothing but a couple of long trailing main vines (called cordons) and several clusters of fruiting buds.
For fruiting trees and vines, pruning is an annual maintenance chore that should be done for several reasons. Proper pruning removes unwanted "suckers" or new growth on the inside of the main branches, removes crisscrossed branches, and shapes the tree/shrub/vine for maximum fruiting.
Deciding which limbs to remove depends on the type of tree, and for stone fruits like peaches/plums/apricots, the most common pruning method is an "open-center."
Think of the desired branching structure as an umbrella that has been turned inside-out by the wind, with the main branches arcing outward at about a 40-degree angle to give both the inner trunk and the underside of the limbs exposure to full sunlight.
Full sun exposure makes more sugar and sweeter, riper fruit. Sometimes smaller lateral branches attached to the main trunk may also need to be tip-pruned if it looks like they may grow into each other or overlap and cause too much shading.
Prune sets of branches on individual limbs so that they grow out and up like the blades on a ceiling fan, separated to allow sun penetration inside the canopy of summer foliage.
Fruits such as apple and pear and related species have a different type of natural branching shape that is generally pruned to produce a "scaffold" shape.
Most everyone has played the word game hangman (the scaffold is what you end up drawing), so think of the main trunk as the center post with branches stretched out at nearly right angles perpendicular from it.
Cutting off inside sucker growth is the same for all fruit trees, and so is shaping the fruiting branch tips for maximum sunlight. The difference for apple and pear is the position of the main branches, which are set in tiers about 11/2 feet to 2 feet apart up the trunk.
Choose only two or three strong (scaffold) branches to leave growing at each level (tier), and remember that each scaffold is like its own set of fan blades avoid overlap and shade competition.
Any new branches that grow during the growing season in the wrong direction, either down toward the ground (too much shade and mowing hazard) or straight up in the middle (competing with the central trunk leader), should be pruned whenever you spot them.
Wait until a bit later on pruning too many branch tips until you see how wet or cold weather has affected pollination and fruit set.
Rose pruning is pretty basic. And for the hybrid tea bushy look, simply cut back all growth to about knee-high, 15 inches to 18 inches.
Remove all dead or diseased wood with visible canker spots, and thin the remaining growth to between three and five main canes. Delay pruning on spring-blooming roses (one-shot wonders like Lady Banks and Seven Sisters), until after the flower cycle, just as if they were azalea bushes.
And don't forget the dormant season is also a great time to get a head start on pest control. Inspect fruit trees carefully for insects that can be controlled with a winter dormant oil product, and manage foliar diseases like peach leaf curl and black spot on roses with dormant applications of liquid lime-sulfur.
