Some inexperienced people seem to see some problems after reading the tree according to the book, but in practice, they still can't stand under the tree and don't know where to cut it in the face of hundreds of branches. In particular, those long trees that have been abandoned for many years are flourishing, disorganized, have no primary or secondary, and have no hierarchy, which makes beginners' heads and brains more swollen and helpless. There is an application process from the abstract tree cutting knowledge in books to the concrete tree cutting methods, linking the brain and hands-on, and finally solving practical problems in production with technology.

This is a process from theory to practice, from knowledge to method. Based on my own experience, this paper puts forward the following steps and sequences of pruning operations for readers' reference, hoping that beginners can take fewer detours and shortcuts and master pruning skills as soon as possible.

(1) First big, then small, from coarse to fine: when cutting down trees, we should first determine and cultivate the backbone branches at all levels according to the target tree shape, and then consider preparing various types of fruiting branches on the backbone branches of different sizes. For example, the shaping of the main crown should first consider the selection and cultivation of the central trunk and main branches, and the pruning of the main branches should first choose the side branches. Therefore, the pruning of branches should first consider the position and spacing of large and medium branches. So overall, pruning is from big to small. First, solve the big problems related to the growth and load capacity of the whole tree, and then consider how to locate the production details of the quantitative results.

(2) From top to bottom, from high to low: At present, there is a quite common phenomenon in fruit tree pruning, that is, only the branches that are easy to cut are cut, and the branches that are difficult to cut in the upper part of the crown are not cut, which is very wrong. Except that the young trees in the plastic period need to be selected from bottom to top when retaining the backbone branches, the generally shaped fruit trees should be pruned from the top to the bottom of the crown with tools such as high stools, high ladders, high branch shears and hooks. The tree structure and branch distribution cut in this way can easily meet the requirements of sparse outside and dense inside, small on the top and large on the bottom, and like layering, which is beneficial to improve the ventilation and light transmission conditions of the lower part and inner chamber of the crown, thus achieving the goal of three-dimensional and high-quality fruit pruning. At the same time, the operation mode of cutting first and then cutting can easily make up for unexpected losses such as stepping on low branches and injuring low branches when people cut down on trees. On the contrary, if the branches at the lower part of the crown are cut off first, these easy-to-happen accidental losses will be hard to recover.

(3) From outside to inside, from head to tail: When cutting down trees, no matter whether they encounter big branches or short branches, they should be trimmed from outside to inside, starting from the top of the branches and gradually pruning to the base. Especially when pruning the main branches, we should first determine and cut off the extension head at the top according to the basic principle of symmetry and balance, and then prune the branches one by one. In this way, no matter how big or how many branches there are, you won't feel confused and can't start pruning, which is also beneficial to the activities and operations of the human body when it moves inward step by step.

(4) Open first and then sparse, from light to heavy: the backbone branches at all levels in the tree are required to have a certain angle and posture. If some large-scale main and lateral branches are too small and erect, even if there are some transverse branches and dense branches in the middle, lower and inner chambers, it is not appropriate to deal with them first. The safest way is to open the angle of this upright big branch as required, and then re-observe it. According to the size of the opened space, it is decided to remove or recover these branchlets whose distribution density and shape have changed. Because some small cross-crowded branches often do not necessarily appear cross-crowded after changing their posture at the angle of their big mother branches, of course, there is no need to thin or retract branches at this time, and some even need to increase the number of branches by cutting them short. If we treat these branchlets blindly too early, once we find that there is a vacancy after the big mother branch opens, it can't be saved. Therefore, it is easy to avoid the occurrence of "unjust, false and wrong cases" and reduce mistakes by filing the case first and then refining it, and "suspending execution" according to the change of the situation from light to heavy.

(5) Shrink first and then cut, from long to short: This means that for some long and weak branches that have not been cut for many years and are naturally developed, we should first consider whether it is necessary to retract according to the existing problems, and then consider carefully pruning the branches left after retraction if necessary. Some people who have no pruning experience don't understand this. No matter what kind of branches keep the original size, they just prune the twigs carefully, but they often think that the pruned branches are too long and should be retracted from the middle, so it is futile to prune the shrunk branches. Although it seems that the pruning operation is more stable and safe, it actually does a lot of ineffective labor, which affects the pruning efficiency. Of course, if some long branches are temporarily difficult to determine the position of heavy contraction, they can also be recovered in two steps. The first step is to shrink a small part. When the whole tree is trimmed, the second step is to shrink it in place according to the overall situation of the crown. This can not only reduce some unnecessary mistakes as much as possible, but also make the long and weak branches that have been abandoned for many years change from long to short after several pruning, and gradually transform into high-quality backbone branches and fruiting branches that meet various management requirements after careful pruning.

(6) Move the trees first, then clean up the mess: On the basis of selecting all kinds of backbone branches, we can first remove those obviously unsuitable irregular branches, such as dead branches, pests and diseases, crowded branches, cross branches, overlapping branches, coexisting branches, overlord branches, etc. When the selected branches in the crown are clear, the subordinate relationship between branches and branch groups can be straightened out in an orderly manner bit by bit according to the above operation steps and sequences. In this way, the messy branches are removed first, and then the relationship between branches is straightened out, which may make some beginners feel that it is not too difficult to cut trees and they can start pruning normally.

In short, the pruning of fruit trees can only be carried out according to certain steps and sequences, so as to ensure quality and improve efficiency. However, the experience of these predecessors must be applied, experienced, explored and summarized by the trimmer itself in practice, and further learning by doing can be improved, perfected and developed, and can be transformed into more useful production and teaching knowledge and technology for future generations.