- The safest period to carry out an appropriate summer pruning would be from the second half of January, but with a deadline for it to be used by the plants until the second half of February.
- If it is necessary to reduce the height of the plants and remove vigorous material, it is very important to do so in summer because the reaction of the following season is much less powerful in vegetative terms than if it is done in winter.
Summer is the time when light is promoted or light is “harvested” from plants in cherry orchards. It is during this post-harvest stage that light must enter the plant canopy for the correct functioning of its fertility processes.
Floral induction begins about 70 days after full flower and flower differentiation occurs between approximately 110 to 140 days after full flower, which in terms of months of the year corresponds to the months of December, January and perhaps part of February, adding the two periods.
The most important factor influencing both of these processes is light, therefore light capture, light reclamation or light harvesting by trees for nutrition (in terms of bud formation and mineral nutrition) is critical for their development.
“This is why summer pruning is extremely important and has two main objectives: lighting and vigour control. It is essential to establish this pruning as a general management in orchards in production, in which, once the fruit has been harvested, a significant pruning procedure should be carried out, especially in those orchards with greater vigour.” said Carlos Tapia, director of Avium.
When should this pruning begin?
Ideally, as soon as possible after harvest, however, it is recognized that very early summer pruning, mainly concentrated at the end of December to the first 15 days of January, has a reaction on the vegetation, therefore, they are prunings in which a lot of thick material can sprout again during the season and many times these sprouts are undesirable because they do not manage to lignify before the onset of winter. Therefore, the safest period for removing material would probably be from the second half of January, but with a deadline for it to be used by the plants until the first half of February.
As a vigor control, summer pruning is de-vigorating pruning, meaning that if the height of the plants needs to be reduced, removing plant material is extremely important in the summer because the reaction of the following season is much less potent in vegetative terms than if done in winter.
“If I put it in terms of date, summer pruning should begin from December 20 or 25, considering that it can sprout again, and it should end for a powerful effect on vigor control before March 15. This is super important in orchards with excess vigor or in orchards that need to reduce height as a year-to-year practice." added the expert.
Bibliographic References
- Personal communication Carlos Tapia, Director Avium.
- Smartcherrand
