Resident Gardening Expert at English Woodlands Offers Top Tips for Summer Pruning
(PRWEB UK) 29 July 2013 -- The East Sussex based retailer of specimen trees, hedging and accessories, English Woodlands, have been suppliers of high grade trees and planting accessories since 1918. The business has established a strong reputation across both the South East and nationally across England for their wide range and high quality large trees. Well known and respected for their high plant survival rates, the friendly team’s extensive product knowledge is built from a genuine passion for helping our customers grow and create magnificent gardens.
One particular member of the English Woodlands team, Graham Grimmett, has gardening credentials that speak for themselves. As the Specimen Tree Centre Manager, Graham is a regular blogger for English Woodlands and offers seasonal tips every month through the English Woodlands monthly newsletter. With garden enthusiasts requesting advice regularly both at the nursery and online, this week Graham tackles the popular and often asked for topic regarding effective Summer Pruning of fruit trees.
“Traditionally, formative pruning of apple and pear trees takes place during the winter so that the structure of the tree is clearly visible. Summer pruning is usually the main method for trained apples and pears such as cordons, fans and espaliers which are pruned to a restricted area. However summer pruning is also important for free standing trees as it helps to restrict growth and to facilitate training without needing to cut old wood.”
Summer pruning for free standing trees is extremely advantageous, Graham outlines four key reasons why:
1. It allows fruit to ripen better as the removal of excess foliage enables extra light to reach the fruit.
2. It will facilitate the tree to produce a good crop the subsequent year.
3. The weather is usually better in the summer!
4. The plants are still growing so pruning cuts heal quickly.
Some useful signposts as to when particular fruit trees should be pruned in the summer include; Pear trees are best tended to and pruned neatly around mid-July; Apple trees in mid-August; Plum and Cherries should only be pruned on a dry day in mid-summer to avoid the fungal disease silver leaf.
Graham offers some further useful pruning tips on how best to tackle fruit trees and specifically apples and pears.
• The trees should only be pruned when the oldest third of the new shoots has started to get woody and stiff.
• Cut back the new shoots that are longer than 9 inches/23cm as the shorter growth is likely to bear fruit buds naturally.
• Shoots should be pruned back to a stub around 3 inches in length. You should ensure that you make the cut just above a bud or leaf.
• Find out if the apple tree is a tip bearing variety before pruning- be careful not to prune new shots which will form fruit buds.
For more advice on how to prune trees during the summer months, visit the online advice centre at English Woodlands, or contact the helpful staff at English Woodlands by emailing info(at)ewburrownursery(dot)co.uk or calling on 01435 862992. Interested parties can always take a look through to http://blog.ewburrownursery.co.uk/, where tips on summer pruning, foliage, and much more are regularly updated.
Don’t forget to take advantage of current offers online at English Woodland which includes 20% off Rite Edge Lawn Edging, 25% off Borderline Steel Tree Rings and the chance to save 20% on all olive and fig trees. Simply visit the promotions category to find a voucher card and add it to the shopping basket.
Keri Williams, Williams Commerce, http://www.williamscommerce.com/, 0845 0942 404, [email protected]
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