School garden pruning rules
School gardens are created at target schools of the McGovern-Dole Food for Education and Child Nutrition program and are aimed at improving food safety and hot meals for primary school students by creating orchards in target schools, as well as expanding the diet, improving the quality and diversity of school meals, landscaping school areas and ensuring the further sustainability of the organization of hot meals. In addition, this project helps create an additional source of income for target schools from the sale of orchard products.
Sanitary and epidemiological requirements for the conditions and organization of education in educational organizations of the Kyrgyz Republic stipulate that green spaces must occupy at least 50% of the school territory.
One of the main activities when growing a school garden is the correct pruning and shaping of fruit trees. School gardens are mainly planted with early-fruiting semi-dwarf apple trees, which require intensive care and harvesting from the trees at an early age. Proper pruning gives good results only in combination with other agrotechnical measures (irrigation, fertilization, pest and disease control). Without pruning, it is impossible to grow a fruit tree with a strong crown, convenient for caring for and harvesting the crop. The purpose of pruning is to form a crown that meets the modern requirements of intensive gardening.
When should fruit trees be pruned?
● The best time for pruning is early spring, during the dormant period of the trees, when sap flow has not yet begun.
● When there is no danger that the air temperature will “fall” below minus 15 o C.
● It is best to finish pruning before the buds swell.
The main tasks of forming the crowns of semi-dwarf apple trees :
● Ensure optimal vegetative and reproductive productivity of the planting
● Help ensure early entry of trees into fruiting and high yields
● Ensure the creation of a powerful tree base capable of withstanding high loads of crops and natural disasters
● Form crowns of small volume, convenient for care and harvesting
● To create such designs and forms that would ensure optimal use of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) by the leaf surface, and the highest quality of fruits
● Help increase the resistance of fruit crops to adverse environmental factors throughout the entire life of the orchard.
One of the main activities when growing a school garden is the correct pruning and shaping of fruit trees. School gardens are mainly planted with early-fruiting semi-dwarf apple trees, which require intensive care and harvesting from the trees at an early age. Proper pruning gives good results only in combination with other agrotechnical measures (irrigation, fertilization, pest and disease control). Without pruning, it is impossible to grow a fruit tree with a strong crown, convenient for caring for and harvesting the crop. The purpose of pruning is to form a crown that meets the modern requirements of intensive gardening.
When should fruit trees be pruned?
● The best time for pruning is early spring, during the dormant period of the trees, when sap flow has not yet begun.
● When there is no danger that the air temperature will “fall” below minus 15 o C.
● It is best to finish pruning before the buds swell.
The main tasks of forming the crowns of semi-dwarf apple trees :
● Ensure optimal vegetative and reproductive productivity of the planting
● Help ensure early entry of trees into fruiting and high yields
● Ensure the creation of a powerful tree base capable of withstanding high loads of crops and natural disasters
● Form crowns of small volume, convenient for care and harvesting
● To create such designs and forms that would ensure optimal use of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) by the leaf surface, and the highest quality of fruits
● Help increase the resistance of fruit crops to adverse environmental factors throughout the entire life of the orchard.
Sparsely layered formation of tree crowns.
This is a crown in the form of a free hemisphere, the lower tier of which consists of 3-4 strong branches that are evenly distributed around the circumference. It is necessary to cut off branches that are weak or growing in bad places. The next tier is created at a distance of about 60 cm from the top of the first. It should include several strong branches, but located less close to each other.
In regions with a warm climate or when forming weakly branching plants, pruning of more multi-tiered tree skeletons is sometimes used.
The end result is a tree about 4m tall, with a combination of single and tiered branches. The approximate distance between the branches of a tree is from 60 cm to 1 m. For plants with a spreading crown it is smaller, and for plants with a more compact crown it is correspondingly larger.
This is a crown in the form of a free hemisphere, the lower tier of which consists of 3-4 strong branches that are evenly distributed around the circumference. It is necessary to cut off branches that are weak or growing in bad places. The next tier is created at a distance of about 60 cm from the top of the first. It should include several strong branches, but located less close to each other.
In regions with a warm climate or when forming weakly branching plants, pruning of more multi-tiered tree skeletons is sometimes used.
The end result is a tree about 4m tall, with a combination of single and tiered branches. The approximate distance between the branches of a tree is from 60 cm to 1 m. For plants with a spreading crown it is smaller, and for plants with a more compact crown it is correspondingly larger.
Pros: the formation of a crown of this type is classic; often used by amateur gardeners; limits the height of the tree; can be used for different types of rootstocks.
Cons: when pruning the crown of fruit crops, it is very important to monitor the order of the branches and the spaces between them; cannot be used for trees that require sufficient sunlight.
Can be successfully used for almost all fruit trees - cherry, plum, apple, etc.
How to choose the right skeletal branches when pruning?
Skeletal branches are branches that form the frame, or “skeleton,” of a tree. They extend directly from the trunk and are always the thickest and longest. Those skeletal branches that extend from the trunk at an acute angle (less than 45 degrees) or at an obtuse angle (more than 60 degrees) are subject to removal.
Cons: when pruning the crown of fruit crops, it is very important to monitor the order of the branches and the spaces between them; cannot be used for trees that require sufficient sunlight.
Can be successfully used for almost all fruit trees - cherry, plum, apple, etc.
How to choose the right skeletal branches when pruning?
Skeletal branches are branches that form the frame, or “skeleton,” of a tree. They extend directly from the trunk and are always the thickest and longest. Those skeletal branches that extend from the trunk at an acute angle (less than 45 degrees) or at an obtuse angle (more than 60 degrees) are subject to removal.
1.This branch has too sharp an angle (less than 45 °). Such branches need to be deleted, because... they will grow parallel to the trunk and compete with it.
2, 3, 4. The most optimal branches are with an angle from 45 ° to 60 °, these are the branches that should be left.
5. Branches with obtuse angles the branches (more) grow weakly and break during fruiting - such branches must be removed.
In the first year, it is recommended to trim up to 30% of the total volume of branches, not on one side of the tree, but evenly throughout the entire crown. Take good care of your tree. A tree is a living organism. And monitor the condition of the tree after pruning. If it tolerates the first pruning well, then the next year you can trim up to 30% of the remaining branches, and in the third year the remaining 30% can be pruned. If pruning was stressful for the tree, wait until next year. Next year you can repeat the pruning and/or reduce the number of branches trimmed.
2, 3, 4. The most optimal branches are with an angle from 45 ° to 60 °, these are the branches that should be left.
5. Branches with obtuse angles the branches (more) grow weakly and break during fruiting - such branches must be removed.
In the first year, it is recommended to trim up to 30% of the total volume of branches, not on one side of the tree, but evenly throughout the entire crown. Take good care of your tree. A tree is a living organism. And monitor the condition of the tree after pruning. If it tolerates the first pruning well, then the next year you can trim up to 30% of the remaining branches, and in the third year the remaining 30% can be pruned. If pruning was stressful for the tree, wait until next year. Next year you can repeat the pruning and/or reduce the number of branches trimmed.
Branch pruning technique.
1.A ring cut is used when it is necessary to completely remove a branch. The cutting line should run parallel to the outer folds of the annular influx of bark.
a – correct cut
b - incorrect cut: very deep cut with damage to the bark and base branches and leave part of the cut branch in the form of a stump.
1.A ring cut is used when it is necessary to completely remove a branch. The cutting line should run parallel to the outer folds of the annular influx of bark.
a – correct cut
b - incorrect cut: very deep cut with damage to the bark and base branches and leave part of the cut branch in the form of a stump.
2.A bud cut is used to direct the growth of a branch and produce a new shoot from this bud. The cutting line should start at the base level and end at the top of the bud. When shortening, a cut is made on the outer bud.
a - too low from the kidney
b – wrong angle
c – too high from the kidney
d – correct cut.
a - too low from the kidney
b – wrong angle
c – too high from the kidney
d – correct cut.
