Apple pruning can be carried out in spring, summer and autumn, and the best time is late spring and early autumn, that is, March-April and August-September every year, especially from mid-late August to mid-late September. For 1-2-year-old branches, it is best to pull out the branches when they are semi-lignified in early autumn. At this time, the branches are soft and plastic, and the branches are easy to be fixed after being pulled, and no new branches will grow on the back, which can promote nutrient accumulation and flower bud formation and increase the proportion of medium and short branches. If you can't pull branches in autumn, at least finish them before they sprout in early spring. The big branches with more than 3 years can be carried out in the middle and late May (that is, the spring shoot flourishing period) when the sap flow is large.

2. Branching method

Prune the whole tree before pulling out branches, and cut off dense branches, overlapping branches and weak branches that are not full. Adopt the method of "one push, two rubs, three presses and four fixes". That is, push the branches up and down repeatedly by hand and rub them repeatedly until they are soft. At the same time, press the branches down to the required angle and position, and then tie a rope or iron wire to the branches, so that they are just straight and not arched. If the branches are too large, three saws should be used to open the angle, that is, 3-5 saws with a distance of 2-3cm and a branch diameter of 1/3 should be sawed on the outer lower abdomen about 20cm away from the trunk. Knead soft, flatten and locate, and then pull with a rope.

Step 3 pull the branch object

Suitable branch stage index: The suitable branch stage for medium-density gardens should be above branch length 1 m and base thickness 1 cm, so don't be too early. Pulling it out too early will easily cause the tree to weaken and form a "small old tree". Consider the strength of the tree when pulling out branches. Strong trees should be pulled more, weak trees should be pulled less or not, because weak trees will make trees weaker. It is necessary to avoid pulling only small trees but not big trees, and only pulling down branches and not pulling up branches. To achieve "three pulls and three pulls", that is, pulling straight branches without pulling lateral flat branches, pulling long branches without pulling short branches, and pulling thick branches without pulling thin branches. For a larger main branch, the main branch and the side branch of the same main branch should be pulled at the same time, and the angle of the side branch is greater than that of the main branch.

4. Angle of branch pulling

For orchards with medium density, the types of branches must be distinguished when pulling branches. For the backbone branches that need to be permanently preserved, the base angle can be pulled to 85-90, and the backbone branches are inserted once every 20cm, and they are arranged in a spiral shape to be reserved, and 15-20 4-year-old trees can be selected to be reserved. Non-backbone branches can be stretched horizontally according to the occupied space, and the bottom angle is controlled at 90-150; For high-density orchards or orchards that cultivate slender spindle-shaped and tall spindle-shaped trees, there are no branches, and all the bottom corners are pulled to about 105- 120.

5. Stretching direction of branches

We should not only pull down vertically, but also consider the space near the tree body, adjust the branch angle, especially the direction of the main branch. The upper and lower branches should be evenly arranged, and the arrangement should be reasonable, not overlapping and crossing, and staggered and wavy.

6. Branch pulling position

The branch pulling position should not be placed at the branch tip or too close to the trunk, and should be selected at 1/3 from the middle of the branch to the top of the branch according to the actual situation. If the branch is pulled from the tip of the branch, the main branch is easy to become arc-shaped, which leads to the weak growth of the top of the branch, the slow expansion of the crown, and the arc-shaped branch is easy to sprout long branches; It is difficult to open the waist angle when the branch is close to the trunk, and the effect of opening the branch angle is not great.

Step 7 pull the rope

Branches can be pulled with wide cloth strips or plastic ropes. When pulling branches with fine wire, the joint between branches and ropes should be padded. Tie the branches loosely, but don't move them up and down. Check regularly after pulling the branches to avoid the rope hurting the xylem. When the branch is pulled to achieve the expected effect, the rope tied to the branch should be loosened in time to prevent injury and affect the growth of the tree.