While seasoned gardeners have long known about the need to carry out autumn pruning of stone fruit crops, newcomers to plant growing may have doubts about this “operation”.
An expert of the online publication BelNovosti, agronomist, landscape designer Anastasia Kovrizhnykh tried to answer the question of why autumn pruning of cherries is necessary.
According to her, the main goal that gardeners pursue at this time is to form an impressive crown and increase the tree’s yield.
Thanks to timely care, the cherry tree will be able to survive the winter more easily.
In addition, the result of the procedure is a reduction in the risk of various diseases, including fungal ones, which can be detrimental to plantings. And insect pests will not have a suitable place where they could wait out the winter (if, of course, you take care of removing leaf litter and diseased branches).
During autumn pruning, it is necessary to remove weakened, old, dried and damaged branches.
The pruning shears are also used for cutting off shoots in the root zone.
Finally, don't forget to get rid of branches that grow inward from the crown and cross-shaped, dense shoots.
