Many pruning forms allow fruit trees to be planted closer together and keep growth of the trees to a manageable size for netting and picking, says gardening columnist JACKIE WARBURTON.

Fruit trees can be grown and pruned into a variety of shapes for many reasons, the most common is to encourage fruit production in a limited space. 

Many pruning forms allow fruit trees to be planted closer together and keep growth of the trees to a manageable size for netting and picking.

Pome fruit trees, such as apples, pears and quinces, are pruned in the winter when the leaves have fallen and the tree is in dormancy. 

There are many forms of pruning to choose from for different types of fruit trees. There are standards such as bush, pyramid, cordon, espalier, and fan shapes, just to name a few. 

Cherries and stone fruit lend themselves to pruned better as a fan, whereas apples and pears prefer cordon or espalier style. Doing a little research for the best pruning method for trees will help with production and growth. 

The height, structure and style is decided while the tree is young and wires are in place before branches are grown. 

The main difference between cordon and espalier is that cordons have many branches and can be grown at an angle known as oblique branching or a simple candelabra style. 

An espalier is simpler and has a central stem with horizontal branches where the spurs will form. The one main advantage of horizontal branches is that there is better fruit production on horizontal branches as opposed to vertical branches due to sap flow and sunlight.

Summer pruning on espalier and cordons should be done so the tree can have as many leaves as possible to photosynthesis and provide shade for the small fruits through summer and a good hard prune in the winter. 

For pruning pome fruit trees this winter, the first job to do is removing the three D’s – dead, damaged and diseased wood. Then, with apple trees, use the short spur method – that is, to prune back to three buds that are facing outwards from the main branch and snip with good clean sharp secateurs. 

The cut should be just above the bud at an angle and if pruning and fruiting is successful next year, the mature growth will by gnarly and create more fruiting spurs or bourse structures. More spurs equals more fruit.

WITH the weather cooling, some winter crocus will start to emerge and, as with most bulbs, the flowers appear before the foliage. Mass planting can make a great display in the colder months when very little else is flowering. They don’t need to be dug up and stored every year and will naturalise in hard-to-grow areas under trees. 

In spring, the best crocus for our climate is the fragrant Dutch Crocus (Crocus vernus), but the crocus we all know is the autumn flowering Saffron Crocus (Crocus sativus). This variety’s orange/red stigma (the female part of the flower) is prized for using in cooking, is used as a dye and loves our cold winters, but still needs to be in full sun to flower. 

NOW the garden has gone into dormancy, there is still plenty of work to do. The structure of deciduous trees can be seen, and it is a good time to assess trees to ensure there are no broken branches nor crossing limbs. 

Now’s also a good time to build up the soil under trees and all garden beds by adding slow-working ingredients such as manures, compost that has broken down and mulch. Any manure is good manure but needs to be broken down and aged. Spread sparingly around the base of all plants and sprinkle a little less around natives and water well. 

Jottings 

• Keep watering the garden as frost dries the soil out. 

• Begin to prune pome fruit such as apples and pears.

• Organic liquid fertilisers for all winter-growing vegetables. 

• Keep on top of weeds such as sticky weed and flick weed. 

jackwar@home.netspeed.com.au