Summer Pruning

Summertime is the peak point of the growth season, the season where your tree puts on the most growth of the year. New leaves are sprouting so the tree can photosynthesize as much as possible. But what happens when that canopy gets a little too big and bushy? Many of those leaves are shaded and not photosynthesizing. When the heat rolls in, so do the bugs and, oh man, do they love a nice dense canopy to hide in and –– munch munch munch.

Summer pruning, especially for stone fruit (peaches, plums, apricots, cherries) helps your tree create more sugars & carbohydrates (for better fruit next year!) and creates proper light and airflow in your canopy, reducing pesky bug infestations we often see at the end of Summer.

We suggest being able to see light through the canopy, bits of the sky and nearby trees. Your tree's canopy should not be so dense that you can't see through it. Each branch needs enough light to get properly sunkissed, producing new fruiting wood and spurs for future fruit production.

When leaves do not receive enough light, they will start to die off, creating debris and deadwood in your tree’s canopy. Deadwood eventually rots and causes bigger issues for your tree, issues that can be avoided!

In the Summer, we prune to thin your tree’s canopy, manage the size of your tree to economize its energy, and, if needed, thin that fruit. Per our last email, you gotta thin it to win it!

Stone fruit—your peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots and cherries—especially benefit from Summer pruning as they are big growers this time of year. As for our trusty SoCal citrus? These bushy babes need canopy sanitization that cleans out deadwood and creates airflow to prepare for late Summer - early Fall when all our buggy friends come to visit: leafminers, mealybugs & aphids, oh my!

Check out the before and after below:

Can you feel that sigh of relief coming from the tree?!