Winter pruning tends to favor wood-production

Winter pruning tends to favor wood-production

Winter pruning tends to favor wood-production

The best time to prune is either in the winter or before the buds start in the spring. Winter pruning tends to favor wood-production, while summer pruning lessens wood-production and induces fruitage.

Each particular kind of fruit requires special pruning; for example, the peach should be made to assume the shape illustrated in Fig. 77. This is done by successive trimmings, following the plan illustrated in Figs. 71, 78, 79. You will gain several advantages from these trimmings. First, nourishment will be forced into the peach bud that you set on your stock. This will secure a vigorous growth of the scion. By a second trimming take off the "heel" (Fig. 78, h) close to the tree, and thus prevent decay at this point. One year after budding you should reduce the tree to a "whip," as in Fig. 79, by trimming at the dotted line in Fig. 78. This establishes the "head" of the tree, which in the case of the peach should be very low,—about sixteen inches from the ground,—in order that a low foliage may lessen the danger of sun-scald to the main trunk.

Fig. 77. The Customary Way of pruning a Peach

Fig. 78. Two-Year-Old Tree
Cut off heel, h