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

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To check excessive vigour of central leader, it may again be cut back to suitably placed
weak growing lateral which is trained to take the place of the central leader. Delay in
pruning until late winter also helps in checking vigour.
The main branches should be so trained and spaced that there is plenty of room for
fruiting laterals and those should not be allowed to form at terminal.
In order to keep sufficient wood in the spindle bush while it is being built up, a small
surplus of wide-angled branches is retained, which may be cut when branches require
more space and get crowded.
Pruning in Bearing Trees
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Start pruning at the top of the trees
and work downward.
Cut upward growing limbs back to
strong laterals.
Remove the crowding branches and
thin out the remaining ones, leaving
the vigorous fruiting wood well spaced
along the length of limbs.
Remove dead, broken and diseased
wood.
Remove parallel growing shoots causing
crowding and shading, and opposite
growing shoots at a point on the stem.
Branches laden with fruits
Remove all water sprouts except the
occasional ones which may be needed to fill a vacant space in the canopy.
While removing a thick branch, first small cut should be made on the underside of limb
to avoid bark peeling.
Divert branches to open areas by pruning to desirable laterals.
The plants trained on spindle bush system can be pruned
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Once the central leader has reached its desirable height of 2.5m, the extension growth
should be cut back each year to a weaker side branch.
Canopy Management in Fruit Crops 11