Fruit trees in July: Less harvest without pruning

Created: 07/04/2022Updated: 07/04/2022 16:01

By: Anna Katharina Kuesters

Fruit trees that gardeners do not cut back at the end of July usually lose harvest in the coming year.

These trees therefore have to go under the knife.

Munich – At the end of July, a real summer month awaits all garden lovers, one that lures with lots of sun and warmth.

Before August rolls over, however, gardeners need to take a closer look at their fruit trees.

Because some of them need to be cut back after the harvest, otherwise the harvest will not take place the following year or will be significantly weaker.

Fruit trees in July: These specimens need a quick pruning

Pruning the cherry tree is very important.

(Iconic image) © stock&people/Imago

The harvest baskets in July are often full of cherries, raspberries, peaches and many other types of fruit.

For many garden lovers, there is nothing better than going on a discovery tour and lovingly plucking the delicious fruits from the bush.

But in order for the harvest to be just as generous next year, the fruit trees have to be pruned back.

The best time for this is the end of July, because then the fruit harvest is over and new shoots can be distinguished from old ones without any problems.

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A pruning at the end of July is particularly important for the following fruit trees:

• sour cherry

• Summer Raspberry

• currants

• gooseberries

• blackberries

The pruning of the sour cherry should not be underestimated and is very important.

The reason for this is that the fruit tree bears cherries best on freshly grown, i.e. one-year-old shoots.

If the pruning fails, the harvest will also be significantly smaller.

To do this, garden fans cut old shoots back to newly developing shoots.

In general, garden fans should prune fruit trees at the end of July.

This means that branches growing crosswise or branches that are too close together have to give way.

Fruit trees in July: summer raspberries and currants

It goes one size smaller: Even summer raspberries need pruning after harvesting at the end of July.

It is best for garden fans to remove the harvested shoots immediately so that there is no risk of cutting off new shoots.

Tip: From the fresh raspberry shoots, only ten to twelve of the strongest shoots should remain per meter row.

It is best to remove the remaining, weaker shoots by hand instead of cutting them away.

A cut only motivates the plant to form new shoots.

Currants also thank gardeners when a few old shoots come off.

In the case of red and white currant bushes, this should primarily be the shoots that are more than three years old.

The berries grow mainly on one- to two-year-old bushes.

Gardeners cut off older shoots directly on the main stem.

Similar to the summer raspberry, no more than twelve main shoots should be left per plant.

Fruit trees in July: gooseberries and blackberries

With gooseberries, it is worth cutting off older shoots.

These include shoots that are more than five years old.

On the other hand, about eight strong main shoots that do not grow too narrow and branched can remain.

After the harvest, young and old shoots can be distinguished particularly well, because the older shoots are significantly darker.

It is therefore worth pruning at the end of July instead of in spring.

The young shoots of blackberries need some help and gardeners should tie them to a trellis in late July.

Similar to tomatoes, it helps the plants when gardeners use them to the full.

This means that they shorten the stinging shoots developed from the leaf axils to two leaves.