WOOSTER, Ohio – Maximizing production and quality in one’s vineyards and fruit plantings are tops on any growers list. Experts will tell you that proper pruning is the way to produce healthy plants and fruit.

The Ohio State University South Centers will host a two-part (morning and afternoon) Online Fruit Pruning School on Thursday, March 14. The online event is free and will be conducted  via Zoom.

The event will be hosted by Dr. Gary Gao, a small fruit specialist at OSU South Centers in Wooster, Ohio, and OSU Extension Specialist Ryan Slaughter. Gao has hosted live pruning workshops at South Centers annually since 2012.

Part 1 will focus on pruning apple and peach trees. Part 2 will cover pruning grape and raspberry vines.

“Most of the cold days should be over, making March the best time to prune fruit crops,” Gao said. “Fruit crops are typically pruned every year in order to improve fruit quality, production efficiency, and make them easier to harvest. It also helps reduce the potential for disease and insect problems.

 “Pruning is more of an art, it is not like you can pick up a book or watch a few videos, and then you learn it and have it down pat. It really takes many hands-on trainings and practice in order to get good at it. Learning how to prune is like learning how to swim. You learn by doing. It just takes a lot of practice.”

Perhaps the most frequent question that Gao and his associates get asked is “why is pruning so important?”

 “Pruning can help to improve the overall structure of a tree, making it strong and more stable. Pruning also encourages fruit production. Dead limbs are a safe haven for insect infestations and tree diseases. If your fruit tree is sick, it may not produce much,” he said.

Pruning, Gao adds, allows energy to be directed to the healthy branches rather that to the bad branches. “Pruning overcrowded and badly placed wood means one can develop evenly spaced branches that allow maximum air and light penetration.”

Another reason, Gao says, is one of aesthetics. “The most visual reason for pruning your trees is simply to help them fit in better with the surrounding landscape,” he says.

Apple trees, Gao says, should be pruned in March.

“After one or two years of growth, all lateral branches of apple trees below 18 inches or below the first lateral are removed,” Gao says. “Limbs that have narrow crotch angles (less than 45 degrees) are to be removed. A two- or three-year-old apple tree needs limb spreading to achieve a tree that is wide at the bottom and tapers to a point. During the fourth year, one should remove all unwanted branches from central leaders and continue to spread limbs as necessary. You never want to allow an upper tier to shade out or outgrow lower limbs.”

“Summer red raspberries should be pruned twice a year, first in the spring and immediately after harvest,” he said. “The spring pruning, in late March or early April, consists of removing all weak canes and cutting back on tall canes. The second pruning consists of removal of canes that produced fruits, right after harvest.

 “Everbearing red raspberries such as ‘Heritage’ raspberry can be pruned to produce fruit once a year or twice a year. Heritage-type raspberries will bear fruit on the older floricanes in early summer and then in the fall. Many home gardeners and commercial growers mow or cut all Heritage canes to the ground in early spring for the sake of simplicity. Heritage raspberries pruned this way will produce only one crop starting in early August in southern Ohio and mid-August in central Ohio. Everbearing raspberries can produce fruits until frost.”

Gao says that black and purple raspberries are pruned three times a year: spring, summer and after fruiting.

 “Pruning berries is an art of balance,” he said. “Growers must tow the line between yield and quality when it comes to pruning, and it’s often a matter of opinion.”

 Gao says it can be hard for growers to decide how much to prune because it takes a conscious decision to eliminate some of the potential fruit. However, as much as growers are risking by pruning, there is also a risk of poor fruit quality if only light pruning is made on a plant.

“Some growers aim for a good yield, while other growers aim for the best quality possible. In addition, if they don’t prune the bushes properly and they leave too many flower buds, when the bushes come out, they can’t support all of those flower buds. The plants will be overloaded with berries and then all of the berries will be small and not very sweet.”

 To register visit go.osu.edu/pruningschool. Questions about the Zoom event can be directed to program assistant Bradford Sherman at 614-247-9680 or Sherman.1473@osu.edu. Deadline to register is March 11.