Gardeners growing apples, pears, or raspberries urged to do one task this month (Image: Getty)
Winter can be bleak for , but February offers a glimmer of hope that spring is nearing.
Snowdrops and crocuses begin peeping out from the ground around this time, and the prospect of a bountiful draws closer.
But apple and pear trees won’t fruit without essential maintenance, specifically . And the same goes for raspberries, says Julie Kendall, Gardening Manager for the
She urged: “If growing apples and pears, prune while dormant but in dry weather to reduce the risk of canker spreading.”
Standard apple trees, including those with a central trunk, should be pruned when the tree is . Meanwhile, trained apple trees, like espaliers and fans, should be pruned in summer.
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Apple and pear trees won’t fruit without some essential maintenance, specifically pruning (Image: Getty)
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There is a broad window for winter pruning between November and early March, but getting it done in February ensures you won’t run out of time as spring comes around.
The most important thing to note when pruning apple and pear trees is to only do it on a dry day with low or no wind. This reduces the risk of canker, which is caused by fungi, bacteria and, commonly, pruning injuries.
A gardening maestro from Range Borders warned: “It’s tempting to be enthusiastic when pruning, but in healthy trees, the removal of any more than a fifth is likely to result in the growth of vigorous but unproductive upright stems known as water shoots.”
Take a measured approach and only remove what is necessary. Start by getting rid of crossing and rubbing branches and dead, diseased, and damaged branches.
Remove selected branches from the crown to reduce crowding and ensure plenty of space for air to circulate and light to penetrate.
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Delicious, crisp apples should fruit in abundance if pruning is done correctly in winter (Image: Getty)
Some branches may need to be cut back to the trunk or a main junction, just beyond the branch’s “collar”. To prevent tearing, this is best done using an undercut technique.
When pruning, it is useful to step back often to view the tree and ensure you achieve a goblet-type shape with well-spaced branches.
If your tree is too vigorous and produces excessive growth each year, even with light pruning, it may be worth considering summer pruning, too. This depletes the tree’s resources and helps to reduce vigour.
Raspberries require a similar approach to winter pruning as fruit trees but on a smaller scale.
Raspberries should be pruned hard in winter (Image: Getty)
The Eden Project manager said: “If you grow autumn-fruiting raspberries, now is the time to cut down the old canes that grew and fruited last year.”
Julie warned against pruning any new shoots and suggested “allowing the new canes to grow through, giving you a fresh new crop of raspberries”.
That said, raspberry plants are dormant at the moment, so a hard prune back to the ground during cold weather won’t damage them.
According to the , summer-fruiting raspberries also need some attention in February. The RHS said this is the time to “trim long canes to a bud about 10cm (4in) above the top wire”.
New canes, primocanes, and floricanes will emerge in the spring and should bear fruit later in the year.