When trees grow too high for easy picking, height can be reduced by pruning back main branches to an outward facing side branch. The side branch should be at least one third the size of the main branch.
The main pruning job on established trees is to thin out some of the small side branches. This allows more light to reach lower branches so that they will produce fruit at levels easier to pick.
Most side branches that grow straight up (called water sprouts) should be removed. Shortening a few of the water sprouts will reduce subsequent resprouting. Branches growing in toward the center of the tree should be removed. Outward growing branches can be retained. However, if two branches are crossing or rubbing against each other, one should be removed.
Apple, pear, cherry, apricot and plum trees bear most of their fruit on short, twiggy branches called spurs. These should not be removed unless dead or broken. Of course, some spurs will be removed with the excess branches that are removed to create better light conditions for the lower and inner branches.
Part of the fruit on apricots and plums and all of the fruit on peaches and nectarines grows on the previous season’s growth. Yearly pruning stimulates vegetative growth which becomes the fruiting wood for the next season. If you look closely, you will see that flower buds (which develop into fruit) are larger or fatter than leaf and stem buds.
Side branches that have grown more than 2 feet the previous year can be shortened. They should be pruned back to a side branch or bud that is facing the way you want the branch to grow. Generally outward facing buds and branches are chosen.
The best way to reduce development of water sprouts is to remove them in early summer when they are less than 10 inches long. At that time they are soft and can be snapped off. Snapping removes lower, latent buds that are not removed by cutting.
For a book on pruning all kinds of plants, I recommend “A Guide to Pruning” by Cass Turnbull.
