75. Pruning Cordon Fruit Trees
Pruning espalier / fan / cordon fruit trees is a bit of an art, and is best done in the summer. This seems to go against the grain - trees are usually pruned when they are dormant in the winter, but the Heligan Gardens gardeners tell me that summer is best. Pruning each year is essential for the trees to keep their unique shape. And the best time to do it is August.
There is a bit of a debate about the summer vs winter pruning, but according to Monty Don on a recent Gardeners World programme summer pruning encourages fruit production vs winter pruning which encourages new leaf growth.
Pruning Cordons
1) On planting:
cut back all laterals (side shoots) longer than 10cm (4in) to three buds, leaving the leader and any short laterals unpruned.
2) For Summer pruning:
Start by cutting the shoot that grows out from the very top of the tree – back to the size you want to keep your cordon to.
Now check along the trunk for strong new shoots that grow directly out of the trunk. Cut these back to three leaves from the trunk (not counting the cluster of leaves at the base). These will branch out and become the new fruiting spurs in later seasons.
Work along the trunk pruning each established spur (short branch with sub-stems) that grows out from it. This is the part that will have this years soft growth. Cut off all new growth at one leaf beyond the cluster of leaves at the base.
If there is fruit present then snip back the shoot to three leaves beyond the fruit. This lets light and air in and will help the fruit to ripen. Take care not to cut off any stems that have fruit on them.
When the cordons reach the top of the 45 degree wire they can be lowered from 45 degrees to not less than 35 degrees in early spring. This will increase the length of the stem and therefore the amount of fruit produced.
3) For Winter pruning:
Neither the leader nor side shoots are normally pruned in the winter, except where the tree has grown a lot since summer pruning or you need to renovate a neglected tree
On older cordons where the spurs are larger, twiggier and more congested you can get smaller poor quality fruit. It is best to thin out these old spurs in winter when the tree is dormant. Thin the overlapping branches out to open the spur up, taking it back to half of its original volume
I have a bit of winter pruning to do on the fan trained trees, but will leave the cordons for summer. But I really will have to up my game - these espaliered trees at West Dean Gardens are really throwing some shapes.
West Dean Gardens © Tom Brown