Pruning and Training - Growing Organic Orchard Fruits - page 581

Completely cut off sprouts on interior parts of a tree. In apples and pears,
some sprouts can be headed back to be several inches long for 2 or 3 years
in a row to develop fruitful spurs.
Water sprouts often develop at the site of a pruning wound. Bending
limbs down, such as during trellising, will also cause more water sprouts to
form. Horizontal and down-pointing limbs produce more water sprouts than
limbs that angle upwards. It is extremely important to manage water sprouts
in all orchards.
When sprouts arise from exposed limbs in the top of a tree, removing
them entirely can cause the main limbs to become sunburned. For such ex-
posed limbs, remove about half of the sprouts entirely and head the others
back to be 1 foot or less. The headed sprouts will need to be headed several
years in a row, but the shade that they produce will help prevent sunburn
( figure 12.6 ➔ ).
It is best to do summer pruning or pinching when the unwanted growth
is just a few inches long. When done correctly, this may involve pinching off
new shoots with your fingers or rubbing them off with your thumb (leather
gloves are an asset here). Except when removing diseased or damaged older
branches, you should not need more than a pair of hand pruners.
FIGURE 12.5
Methods of Positioning Branches
Several methods can be used to position branches to prevent narrow branch
angles and bark inclusions or for positioning branches to desired angles for
various training systems.