Page 6 



BETTER FRUIT 



December 



Figure 5 — Strong and weak fruiting wood of 

 Napoleon. 



some fruit buds at the base of this one- 

 year-old wood. But llie real trouble has 

 been that no vigorous, fruitful spurs 

 have developed, and the reason for this 

 is lack of pruning. Too many branch 

 buds have been left to grow into spurs, 

 and as a consequence none of these 

 spurs has had sufficient nourishment to 

 develop them into strong, fruitful spurs. 

 Had the one-year-old growth been 

 clipped back each pruning season, 

 leaving from three to five branch buds, 

 strong fruiting wood like that shown in 

 Figures 6 and 7 would have developed. 

 The secret of sweet cherry pruning, 



so far as fruit is concerned, is to clip 

 in each spring the growth of the pre- 

 vious season to a point where only as 

 many branch buds remain as will de- 

 velojj into strong spurs. The number 

 of buds left will vary some with the age 

 of the tree, the fertility of the land, and 

 soil moisture conditions. The results 

 shown in Figures 6 and 7 are about 

 what we should strive for. In these 

 instances the number of branch buds 

 left has been from three to six. In each 

 case one oi' two strong twigs have de- 

 veloped as a result of the clipping back 

 and the other branch buds have devel- 

 oped into spurs. At least one strong 

 twig should be forced out by this prun- 

 ing, and if other spurs grow to the 

 length illustrated in F'igure 3A one 

 should not consider that the tree has 

 been over-pruned. This spur bears five 

 axillary fruit buds and three axillary 

 branch buds. In the top of the tree 



FiGURH 6 — Strong fruiting wood of Bing, result 

 of annual heading in of one-year-old wood. 



Figure 7 — Good Bing fruiting wood, showing 

 how it should be headed back. 



more branch buds may be left than in 

 the center or about the outside of the 

 tree. From the standpoint of economy 

 in picking, the tree should be clipped 

 back just as much as it will stand with- 

 out forcing too many of the remaining 

 branch buds into long shoot growth. 

 Had the branch shown in Figure 4 been 

 properly headed back from the begin- 

 ning, it would now be less than two 

 feet long when pruned for its next sea- 

 son's growth. As it is, it is over four 

 feet long. The branch shown in Figure 

 6 is the same age and would be just two 

 feet long to a point three or four buds 

 below the cut marked A, which would 

 be the proper point to head back to. 

 The branch in Figure 4 carries a total of 

 twenty-one fruit buds and that shown 

 in Figure (1 approximately sixty. Which 

 is the more profitable, pruning or no 

 pruning? 



The appearance of older spurs will 

 also indicate whether the tree is being 

 pruned sufficiently. In Figure 5 the 



-Five-year-old 



twig on the left shows spurs well filled 

 with fruit buds, which indicates good 

 pruning, so long as there are no barren 

 spurs like those shown in Figure 2B 

 below them. The twig on the right 

 shows spurs very sparingly filled with 

 fruit-buds. A tree bearing wood of this 

 kind needs more clipping back; too 

 many branch buds are being left. 



How, then, shall we approach and 

 prune the sweet cherry tree? First, 

 the strong terminal one-year-old twigs 

 should be cut back, leaving from one to 

 five or six branch buds, depending upon 

 the vigor of the fruiting wood below — 

 the weaker the fruiting wood, the fewer 

 the branch buds left. One must not 

 remove all the branch buds from such 

 twigs, for they will then have no means 

 of continuing their growth. Branch 

 buds are readily distinguished from 

 fruit buds by their shape and size. The 

 two lateral buds nearest the tip in Fig- 

 ure 3A have the typical form and size 

 of branch buds, while those at the base 

 are typical fruit buds. If this pruning 

 does not reduce the fruiting wood suffi- 

 ciently, we must then remove older 



I'lGUBr. 9— *ame tree after pruning 



