Apple growers aim to make the right cut

The apple county of Armagh produces 35 000 tonnes of ‘Bramley’s Seedling’ apples in an average year from over 1200 hectares of orchards. Top fruit growers shape and prune their new and established orchards during the winter months. The skilled art of pruning ensures continued, quality cropping and is a key to managing the growth habit of the trees.

Top fruit growers recently attended a pruning workshop where Graeme Cross, Top Fruit Development Adviser, Greenmount Campus,CAFRE demonstrated the practicalities of ensuring effective pruning to maximise future returns from their orchards.

The first tier of branches to develop on a maiden tree will form the framework for its entire productive life, so it is essential from the start that these ‘scaffold’ branches are well positioned and spaced in relation to each other. Graeme demonstrated the ideal arrangement of such branches on the young tree and gave guidance on simple, early actions that can help to optimise their orientation and growth.

The workshop also included a review of work comparing fruit trees planted in virgin orchard sites to replant sites, where old orchards had been grubbed out. In such replant situations high levels of soil pathogens or poor micronutrient levels can affect the establishment of new trees.

Top fruit growers will be invited to further training events on pruning, crop management and business benchmarking throughout the growing season. For information or enquiries about commercial top fruit production, please contact Graeme Cross, Crops and Horticulture Branch, CAFRE, on 028 37515638. For information on other training courses in agriculture and horticulture, contact the course line at College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise on 0800 0284291.

Graeme Cross, Top Fruit Development Adviser, discusses the pruning of 6-year-old ‘Bramley Seedling’ trees with apple growers.