For young trees, while you’re getting them established into a vase shape (which is what we recommend, unless you have a reason for growing a different shaped tree) the answer is yes. During the establishment phase (the first 1-3 years after your plant a new tree), your main concern is to establish the right structural wood (i.e. permanent limbs) in your tree; at this stage you’re not concerned with fruiting wood.

However, once the shape is established it’s time to switch to maintenance pruning, which is when you are more mindful of creating and protecting the fruiting wood you need. At this stage, there are some differences in how you treat different types of fruit. We cover pruning apricots, cherries, apples, and pears in separate articles, but in this article we summarise the differences in how you prune different types of fruit trees.

Read article in Winter – Week 6