canopy management in fruit crops - Department of Agriculture & Co ...

Apple
The plants are trained according to their growth
habit and vigour of rootstocks. Tree training
helps establish a strong framework of scaffold
limbs which are capable of supporting heavy yield
with quality fruits, regulate annual succession of
crops, expose maximum leaf surface to the sun,
direct the growth of trees so that various cultural
operations like spraying and harvesting become
economical, protect the trees from sun-burn and
promote early harvesting.
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The plants are topped to 50-60cm above the
ground level at the time of planting.
During first year, 2-4 well spaced scaffold
Maximum shoots in flowering stage
limbs are
selected with
the lowest at 40 cm above the ground. The growth of
unwanted shoots is depressed by pinching 3-5cm of
shoot tips from mid April to mid May.
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The selected primary scaffold branches are further
headed back (topped) to one fourth to one fifth of
the growth during summer.
During second year dormant pruning, the
central leader and primary scaffold branches
are headed back similar to first dormant
pruning. More scaffold branches are retained
on the trunk at the vertical distance of
50-75cm.
Tree in good shape after initial training
Canopy Management in Fruit Crops 9