First Day of Plum Pruning

With the arrival of winters comes the yearly ritual of pruning. Though, my thoughts have never been entirely in favour of pruning (based on how trees grow in the wild), yet it remains something that must be done in my orchard for many practical reasons which I will not go into here. Today, I began with the plums.

Most of the plums have recently gone into dormancy. Some of the trees are still not completely dormant. Conventional wisdom says to wait until winter is nearly over and then prune towards late winter or early spring. My reality is slightly different. I have too many trees and do not wish to spend all of my pre-spring (late winter) doing nothing but pruning. Fortunately, our winters are relatively mild, so the risk of severe frost damage to fresh wounds is low. And there is a general consensus that plums can tolerate slightly earlier pruning in winter compared to some other fruit trees.

So today marked the first round of pruning. Broadly speaking, I think of pruning in two ways. One kind encourages vigorous regrowth, almost provoking the tree, and I call that “agitatory pruning”. The other kind settles the tree rather than excites it, and I call that “calming pruning”. Heavy heading cuts, especially when done excessively, tend to shock the tree and push it into a rebound phase where it tries to produce masses of new shoots and leaves. On the other hand, cuts made close to the main branch, just outside the collar, do not cause that same aggressive response. These are called thinning cuts. Done thoughtfully and in moderation, the tree seems to almost ignore these cuts. That, for me, is calming pruning.

Pruning, of course creates wounds, and those wounds must heal well to prevent infection. That is why pruning should not be done during the hardest part of winter when the tree is in deep dormancy, nor during a wet spell. As it happens, winter has been slightly delayed here, so the trees are almost dormant but still not fully asleep. Climate crisis? This however makes it a suitable time for light calming pruning. The wounds will seal, and because these cuts do not stimulate vigorous growth, there is no risk of the tree trying to push out tender new shoots during peak of winter.

So today I removed a few inward-growing branches from some of the plum trees, helping to open up their centres. In my view, the best shape for a mature fruiting plum tree is an open vase form, allowing light and air to reach inside. I also prefer to spread the pruning of each tree over a few weeks. It gives earlier cuts time to heal before I introduce new ones. Perhaps it is only my personal philosophy, or perhaps my laziness dressed up as wisdom, but it has worked well for me over the years. Between trees, I always clean my tools with alcohol swabs. This should be standard practice for anyone pruning trees, as it greatly reduces the chance of spreading disease.

My upper limit with pruning is never to remove more than about 25 percent of the canopy. Staying within that limit helps keep the plum trees calm and reduces stress. This upper limit includes all kind of cuts – thinning, heading, shaping, etc. Within that 25 percent, the first candidates to go are always the three Ds: dead, diseased, and damaged branches. After that, I remove tall, thin shoots that are growing into the centre of the tree. Then I deal with branches that meet at very sharp angles. Horticulturists call that the “crotch angle”, a term I always find amusing, so I avoid using it. Where two or three branches compete in the same space, I usually keep the healthiest and strongest one and remove the rest.

For branches that are high up, I prefer using a good bypass lopper, and I occasionally bring out a folding ladder to reach the top growth. Some people say that if you need a ladder, the tree is already too tall. I do not mind that at all. I actually like my trees to look like trees. One important thing, though, is to always use a ladder rather than climbing a plum tree. Climbing can reduce fruiting because of the damage it causes to the spurs. A ladder keeps both me and the tree safer.

I never apply any sealing paste or chemicals to pruning cuts. Unlike humans, trees do not heal by repairing tissue the way our wounds do. Instead, they protect themselves by compartmentalising. The tree shuts off movement of fluids to that area and builds internal barriers, effectively sealing the wound from within. Leaving the cut surfaces open allows them to dry naturally, which is what trees prefer.

Today, I pruned for about an hour. That feels like the right amount of work for a day, especially since I like to spread my efforts over several sessions. This way I still have time to read a book in the afternoon and take a quiet walk around the orchard.

Once the frost period is safely behind us, I will move on to the heading cuts, shaping the trees more firmly and preparing them for healthy growth and good fruiting. For now, today’s gentle work is done. Tomorrow, there will be more plum trees waiting for their turn.

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