Summer pruning is essential for strongly growing fruit trees as it helps slow down excessive growth, encourages the formation of new fruiting wood, and improves fruit quality by ensuring better sunlight exposure.
It also enhances disease resistance since trees are actively « healing » during the sap flow in summer, which helps close pruning wounds faster.
Sweet Cherry (Süßkirschen) Summer Pruning:
Sweet cherries should only be pruned in summer after the training phase.
The maintenance pruning is done either right after harvest or in late summer.
Cut back any steep shoots, competing shoots, or inward-growing branches at their base.
For older sweet cherries with overhanging branches, a rejuvenation cut is necessary.
Avoid cutting thick branches as they may produce gum, a sticky resin.
Sour Cherry (Sauerkirschen) Summer Pruning:
Sour cherries bloom on one-year-old wood. Over time, this wood becomes barren and droops.
Remove old, weak branches at the base and shorten the remaining side shoots to a well-developed bud or cut them back to a younger, one-year-old shoot.
Some varieties, like ‘Morina,’ fruit on older wood and are less susceptible to the Monilia disease, and should be pruned similarly to plums.
Apple and Pear Summer Pruning (Late Summer):
Apples and pears can tolerate strong pruning. Short shoots on the upper side of the branches should be pruned back by June.
Fruit-bearing shoots should be trimmed just above the rosette-like leaf clusters at their base.
Longer, not yet woody shoots should be snapped off (called « Juni Riss » or « Juniknip ») to encourage better fruiting.
The main summer pruning for apples occurs in August when the end buds on shoots are fully developed.
Be cautious with late-ripening apple varieties: avoid pruning fruit-bearing shoots too much, as excessive leaf loss can lead to slower fruit ripening.
Plum Tree Summer Pruning:
Plums require regular but subtle pruning. Trim fruiting branches older than three years above a two-year-old shoot.
Remove any congested, inward-growing, or steep vertical shoots at their base to lighten the crown and improve air circulation.
Techniques:
Rosettenschnitt (Rosette Cut): For medium-sized apple shoots, cut back so that only a crown of two to three leaves remains at the base of the shoot.
Stummelschnitt (Stub Cut): For weak, vertically growing shoots, cut back to about two leaves to promote the growth of fruiting wood.
