When is the best time to prune plum trees? How to cut?

Plum trees are fruit trees planted in many areas. In the management process of plum trees, pruning work must be done well. So when is the best time to prune plum trees? How to cut? Let’s learn more about it below.

When is the best time to prune plum trees?

Plum trees can be pruned throughout the year, but the focus should be on summer pruning and winter pruning, with summer pruning being the main method and winter pruning being the auxiliary method. Summer pruning is also called growing season pruning and can generally be carried out 3 to 5 times.

How to prune a plum tree?

1. Pruning time

When pruning plum trees in summer, it is necessary to do it 3 to 5 times. In early summer, remove the excess branches and buds. Prune in time when and after the flowers fall, remove useless branches, control the branch density of the plum tree, and make it grow vigorously. Winter is also an important season for pruning plum trees. At this time, the diseased, old and weak branches on the plum trees should be cut off, leaving only strong branches to ensure the overall balanced growth of the plum trees.

2. Pruning young trees

Plum trees grow very fast when they are seedlings, and are particularly prone to forming overly strong branches on their trunks. They must be pruned in a timely manner to allow them to grow normally. Generally, light pruning is needed at this time, mainly thinning branches and removing buds to give the plum tree a good tree shape and better growth.

3. Pruning during the fruiting period

The plum trees in the fruit-bearing period are already 2 to 3 years old. Pruning at this time is mainly to expand the crown, increase the number of fruiting branches of the plum trees, and thus increase the yield. The main thing is to spread out the branches of the plum tree and shorten the trunk of the plum tree to reduce the branch density and improve the overall tree shape.

4. Pruning during the peak fruiting period

Pruning during the peak fruit-bearing period is mainly to avoid nutrient depletion and ensure that the plum tree has a balanced nutritional supplement. At this time, unnecessary weak branches and redundant branches should be pruned to reduce the consumption of nutrients on useless branches and allow the fruiting branches to have more nutrients.

5. Pruning after picking

After the plums are picked, they enter a period of aging and renewal, and leaves and branches will fall and wither. At this time, you should also pay attention to pruning. Pruning is mainly done on the main trunk, cutting off old and withered branches to allow them to sprout and form new branches as soon as possible, thus restoring vitality and vigor.

That’s it