Pruning and Training - Growing Organic Orchard Fruits - page 571

In thinning, you should generally avoid making “bench” cuts ( figure
12.1 ➔ ) . Bench cuts happen when an upright branch is removed and an outer
secondary branch is left. These cuts usually occur in training trees to open
centers and can occur on any fruit tree. They are especially common on
peaches and nectarines. The problem is that the benches are structurally
weak and can leave the tree open to breaking due to crop load, snow load,
and wind. A better strategy is to carefully select scaffold limbs and use
spreaders and weights throughout the spring and summer to develop desir-
able shapes, rather than simply relying on dormant pruning.