Straight growth, strong branches and lots of sweet fruit: with the right pruning of the mirabelle plum tree, that's no problem at all. But be careful: there are a few things to consider.
Putting on the secateurs and pruning the plum tree as you please is not such a good idea. Don't be surprised if it hardly bears fruit or grows misshapen. You should know that there are three different types of cuts.
A basic distinction is made between the training pruning in the growth phase, the annual thinning pruning and the rejuvenation pruning of neglected trees. But don't worry, it sounds more complicated than it actually is.
Upbringing
You model a young plum tree in the growth phase with the educational pruning like an artist would model his work of art. The goals are upright growth and an open, even crown with harmoniously distributed main branches.
➜ Proceed as follows for the training cut:
Do not touch the main shoot from which the tree trunk develops. Remove competitors of the main shoot, because the plum tree should only form one trunk, not several trunks. Choose he althy, strong side shoots at the same height as main branches. The fruit-bearing branches later grow on these leading branches. Remove any shoots growing below the main branches.
Clear Cut
Carry out the annual pruning of adult Mirabelle plum trees in the summer after the harvest. The tree is best able to cope with cuts and close quickly at this time. After pruning, the sunlight should be able to reach all fruit-bearing branches unhindered.
➜ Proceed as follows for the thinning cut:
As a rule of thumb, remember that only 20 percent of the branches can be removed per cut. You will usually get by with less and still get a good result. Need to be truncated:
- Deadwood and dry and dry branches
- parallel growing, crossing and inward orbranches growing below
- Water shoots (tall, straight, soft shoots inside the crown)
Taper Cut
Rejuvenation pruning is a radical pruning of a plum tree that has been left to its own devices for a long period of time and has literally gone out of shape. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to completely correct a tree that has grown over the years. However, the rejuvenation cut makes sense and is important in these cases.
➜ For the taper cut, do the following:
First check which branch combination, together with the upper trunk section, comes closest to the ideal of an open crown with evenly distributed main branches. All branches that stand in the way of this picture are removed. You won't get very far with garden or rose shears. A jigsaw will serve you better.
Take your time while performing the makeover cut. Keep looking at the intermediate result from a distance. It's better to use the saw less than not being able to correct a careless cut.