Story: Fruit Tree Pruning Tips
Episode: 12
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane
Air Date: 31 May 2025

Trevor recommends that as we move into winter, it is time to prune your fruit trees.

• Time to tackle your deciduous fruit trees – think plums, peaches, nectarines, apricots, grapes and kiwi fruit. Leave evergreens like citrus, avocado and mango until it is warmer.
• Prune deciduous trees into an open vase shape. This helps light and air get in, boosts fruit quality and keeps things low, so you are not up a ladder come harvest time.
• Some of his tips are to take the canopy back by about half, remove any crossing or crowded branches and encourage outward, spreading growth.
• Grapes can take a solid prune, but do not cut right back to the hardwood. Leave about 6 to 8 buds per spur and tidy up excess soft growth in spring when it starts flowering.
• Tall trees like mulberries can be cut back hard – a pole pruner helps you stay safely on the ground while removing tall shoots.
• A proper winter prune sets your trees up for a great crop. Just remember deciduous trees now, evergreens later once they have finished fruiting.