{"id":1137,"date":"2011-01-23T14:04:17","date_gmt":"2011-01-23T13:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/blog.php\/?p=1137"},"modified":"2022-09-14T11:04:26","modified_gmt":"2022-09-14T10:04:26","slug":"winter-pruning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/winter-pruning\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Pruning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the UK it is winter right up until early March and fruit trees and bushes are in their dormancy period, making this a perfect time to get pruning.\u00a0 During this dormancy the sap has not yet risen so cuts can be made without the tree or bush \u2018bleeding\u2019 to death.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1138\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1138\" style=\"width: 225px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/P1090246.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1138\" title=\"Pruning with by-pass loppers. \" src=\"http:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/P1090246-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/P1090246-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/P1090246-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1138\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Always use the right tools for the job &#8211; Sunglasses optional. By-pass or better still anvil loppers are perfect for those larger branches. Use a pruning saw for the largest.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><strong>Some important things to remember\u2013<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Make sure your tools are sharp and right for the job. For example, don\u2019t use secateurs for large branches, or a saw for thin spindly growth.<\/li>\n<li>Leave alone members of the <a title=\"five plum wine\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theotherandyhamilton.com\/2012\/08\/15\/five-plum-wine-a-recipe-for-plum-wine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">plum<\/a> family, including plums, peaches, apricots until summer to avoid canker.<\/li>\n<li>Cut out dead, dying and diseased along with any crossing branches.\u00a0 Remove any branches with canker and sterilise your secateurs\/loppers afterwards with surgical sprit or similar (can even be vodka!).<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t over prune only cut \u2013 15%-20% for fruit trees (pears and apples) and 30% for fruit bushes. \u00a0If a lot of work is needed to reshape a tree it can also be done in the following year.<\/li>\n<li>Try and cut to outward facing buds or buds facing an area without any growth.\u00a0 Always cut slightly above the bud.<\/li>\n<li>Burn any diseased prunings, rest can be composted.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Specific advice for specific plants \u2013<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Blackcurrants fruit on the last year\u2019s wood so, unless the plant needs major surgery to correct its shape try and maintain some of last year\u2019s wood.<\/li>\n<li>Gooseberries \u2013 Cut 1\/3 of new growth to maintain shape<\/li>\n<li>Pears grow better on horizontal branches so try and maintain these<\/li>\n<li>Make sure you know if your fruit is a tip or spur bearer and don\u2019t remove the tips if it is the former<\/li>\n<li>Cut autumn raspberries to the base<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Pruning fruit trees and bushes will promote growth and maintain form.\u00a0 It seems counter intuitive but sometimes the more badly a tree or bush is doing the more it will need pruning as you want to promote vigorous new, healthy growth. \u00a0\u00a0Each variety is different, look how a tree\/bush has responded to pruning in previous years (usually the darker the wood the older it is) and prune accordingly.<\/p>\n<p>The only real way to learn is to do it and see how your tree or shrub responds. You might not get it right in the first year but if you monitor what happens then in subsequent years you\u2019ll learn to get it right.\u00a0 Often the worse that can happen is you won\u2019t get much fruit for one year.<\/p>\n<p>Dave&#8217;s new book <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Grow-Your-Food-Free-Almost\/dp\/1900322897\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1295787667&amp;sr=8-1\">Grow your food for free, well almost<\/a> will be available from April 2011.<\/p>\n<p>Article written by Dave Hamilton. Dave has now left Selfsufficientish but you can catch up with him on davehamilton.me.uk or on twitter @davewildish<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>In the UK it is winter right up until early March and fruit trees and bushes are in their dormancy period, making this a perfect time to get pruning.\u00a0 During this dormancy the sap has <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/winter-pruning\/\" title=\"Winter Pruning\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1839,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[727],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gardening-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1839"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1137"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3183,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137\/revisions\/3183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}