GARDEN will eventually develop into fruiting wood.
GARDEN will eventually develop into fruiting wood.
Peaches and nectarines, on the other hand, fruit on the new wood produced the previous season. The object here is to cut away as much of the old wood as possible and retain all the new wood you can. So you are still attempting to keep the tree well-balanced and open-centred, but hard cutting back is not necessary, since blossoms will be produced at intervals along the length of the new wood.
When it comes to apricots, plums and cherries, all you really want to do is cut away dead wood and some of the more awkward branches. These trees bear their fruit on twiggy shoots often up to the tips of the branches, so drastic pruning could cut your harvest down considerably.
It is important to note that some plants should not be pruned in winter, as they produce flowers or fruit on the previous season’ s hardened growth. Cutting these plants back now will remove the forming flower buds and stop them from flowering when they should.