Fruit Trees: how much to prune/trim?

hysop

RIP Ryder (2022) & Hammy (2019)
Sep 16, 2019
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My in laws have a bunch of fruit trees, maybe 5-8 total. Peach. Pear. And some other kind I forget.

To my knowledge, they have never pruned them. They look pretty rough but still produce.

Am I able to trim off all the bottom branches? Or would that kill it? The tree stump isn't even a stump because it has so many branches down to the floor.

I’ll have to take a pic of one later. I don’t plan on pruning the top since they are pretty tall but I do want to at least trim all the bottom ones so that it can at least have a stump like a normal tree. Can I do that? I mean once spring comes.
 
While you can maximize production by proper pruning when fruit trees are young. Follow these pruning tips: in winter, remove all dead wood, then any limbs that cross through the middle of the tree. Follow by removing slender upright twigs that grow vertically from horizontal branches. Judiciously prune so limbs are spaced symmetrically around the tree and up and down the trunk. Pay attention to regular watering and feeding during the growing season and your trees will produce just fine.
 
Most citrus trees are grafted. A bud graft of the desired fruit variety is grafted onto a strong heirloom rootstock. The graft is highly selected for fruit characteristics but they are not as hardy as the heirloom root stock.

Your description of the trunk sounds like the tree is growing back from the rootstock. The rootsotck will not produce good fruit. They are usually very pulpy and/or sour.

I'd wait until the trees have produced fruit and you've taste tested them from various locations before deciding what to keep and what to prune.
 
There are some basics to keep in mind with pruning fruit trees. Apple and pear trees you want to prune in the dead of winter while they are dormant. Pitted fruits like plums, peach and cherries you want to prune in early spring when the are waking up for the summer. If you do heavy trimming (large branches, chain saw trimming) you only want to do about a third in one year. I have seen people do more than that, but it is stressful for the tree and you may not get any fruit for a year or two. Otherwise fruit trees like getting trimmed, ideally you want have trees that get sunlight and air flow getting to each of your producing branches.

Below is our apple tree, it's about a hundred years old now and it needs trimming every year, mostly the watersprouts, or suckers that grow straight up. It's a gravenstein and still produces apples, mostly without seeds anymore. But its kind of the king of our front yard.
 

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