Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
collectively referred to as pomme fruits. The word pomme
comes from the French word for apple.)
When the young tree is first planted, tie it to a straight,
eight-foot-long stake driven at least three feet into the soil for
strength, cut off any limbs that are larger than 50% of the
diameter of the trunk, and trim the trunk back to a height of
three feet. Branches are strongest when they leave the trunk at
an angle between 60 and 75 degrees, so when the branches
are young, it is easy to bring them back to that angle by tying
them with string or inserting small pieces of wood between
the branch and the trunk. The branches on trees will tend to
grow toward the sun, so that tendency will have to be
countered the same way because you want the tree to grow
straight and well balanced.
Subsequent pruning is best done in late winter or very early
spring. The first spring after planting, remove any limbs
closer to the ground than two feet and any limbs that are
larger than 50% of the diameter of the trunk. If the tree has
developed more than seven limbs, select the seven best
distributed around the tree to be saved, and prune the rest. It is
important when a limb is pruned that it be pruned back all the
way to the trunk, otherwise it will sprout a bunch of vertically
growing wood and create troubles. Once the pruning is done,
limbs that need it should be tied or fitted with spacers to get
the right angle to the trunk.
Beware of cutting off just the tips of the remaining limbs,
because this can delay fruiting. Once the tree has been
fruiting for a couple of years, such cuts can be used sparingly
for shaping, but it is better to solve shading problems by
removing entire limbs.
