How to trim a walnut: proper pruning in summer and autumn, crown formation

Summer pruning

Summer is a good time for pruning. The procedure is performed in the middle of the season (July). At this time, sap flow is reduced, and specialists process the crown more often to give it the correct “haircut” shape. This type is considered most effective if the goal is maximum yield.

To do this, it is necessary to remove skeletal branches, leaving only fruit-bearing areas, cut off branches that grow inward, and remove thickening branches . After one formation of the top, the owner of the site will only have to maintain the condition by annually trimming the crown. Only 5 shoots are left, the remaining parts are cut off at the bud stage. As gratitude, the tree will produce a large harvest of walnuts.

Important! In summer, pruning weakened trees is not recommended, but on 2-year-old plants it is worth leaving up to 2 buds. One of them is a reserve, the second

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home.
In summer, cuts heal faster, the plant will not be sick for a long time, and its recovery is accelerated. In addition, the juice also quickly normalizes, because from July to August the leaves and roots develop well. It is recommended to start forming a crown from the second year of life.

Pruning in autumn

The best period for pruning and forming the “broom” crown is autumn . The time is chosen when all the leaves fall off. You need to start earlier so that the upper part does not form independently, chaotically. The process itself involves cutting off very large branches, but this only applies to an adult plant. The procedure turns out to be stressful, so various problems may appear. In autumn it is also good to care for walnuts, if you need to perform sanitary treatment and remove dry branches.

Thick areas after the operation must be coated with varnish, and all incorrectly growing parts must be removed so that in winter the tree does not waste energy on them.

Crown formation

Any gardener knows that a walnut grows until it is about 5 years old, and the length of its branches should not be more than 1.5 meters. If you do not follow a simple rule, the crown begins to become overgrown with greenery, and the buds become weak. The first time the pruning is done short, leaving about 25 cm . This procedure is necessary so that strong shoots for fruiting appear from below the plant. When the tree is 5 years old, the best branch of all the strong ones is chosen, and the rest are cut off.

By refusing to trim a young walnut, all the buds that are close to each other create a whorl. It begins to produce lateral shoots growing at an acute angle. Several schemes are used for pruning, but there is one main rule for everyone - the height of the crown begins at a distance of 1–1.5 m from the soil level.

Important! Forming the crown

you need
to leave 5
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6 tiers with a distance of 50 cm from each other. Trim the top so that the tree grows wider and produces a good harvest of walnuts.

Cup pruning

This processing technique is used for convenient harvesting of walnuts. After applying the bowl shape in height, the tree stops growing, and after removing excess branches, the dimensions will remain the same.

a - 1 year, b - 2-3 years, c - 4-5 years, d - subsequent years

For formation, leave a trunk with a height of up to 2 meters and 3–4 skeletal branches . The thickness of the trunk is made uniform. The 2 branches at the top need to be crossed with the branches of the upper tier, and the central one should be cut to the base. For 3 years, similar pruning has been performed in the fall every year.

It is allowed to make semi-skeletal branches according to this scheme. The method gives a good harvest of walnuts, and the rationale is that the growth will be wider, not upward. In the spring, the branches are cut to 1/3 of their length, which will help the formation of new shoots of the second row. Young green vegetation will need to be cut or pinched off.

Did you know? It is enough to consume 400 g of walnuts so that the body meets the daily food requirement. Such nutrition turns out to be complete and includes essential vitamins and minerals.

Leader scheme

The main essence of the technique is to distribute the skeletal branches in a spiral , with a distance of 50 cm from each other in height. The first 3 tiers of the second row do not need to be cut until the fruits begin to appear, but then you need to gradually remove them so that the walnut receives more light.

Scheme of crown formation: Ι - with the next arrangement of the buds, ΙΙ - with the opposite arrangement of the buds; A - border of the trunk and crown, B - place of pruning of the leader shoot when laying the crown, C - place of pruning of first-order shoots; 1 - annual shoots, 2 - biennial branches

Walnut grows as a bush. Botanical description

Walnut is a tall spreading tree. Specimens over 50–70 years old reach 25–30 m in height, and the diameter of their trunks in the lower part exceeds 1.5 m. The bark is dark gray, thick, covered with cracks. The root system consists of a powerful central core, penetrating to a depth of 3–3.5 m, and adventitious shoots that develop after the tree reaches the age of 7–10 years. The crown is tent-shaped, dense. The leaves are petiolate, compound, odd-pinnate, dark green with a bluish tint. They consist of 7–11 elongated lobes with pointed tips, 8–12 cm long.

The flowers are unisexual and bloom simultaneously with the leaves at the end of April. Staminate and pistillate inflorescences are located on the same tree. The first are in the form of pale green hanging catkins, the second are round, sessile, with fused perianths, growing at the tips of the shoots or in the axils of the leaves. Pollination occurs cross-pollination, since flowering on one crown is uneven.

The nuts ripen in September or October. Their strong, woody shell is surrounded by light green fibrous pericarps, which burst on their own in the fall. The edible kernels are located under the ribbed shell flaps in cavities separated by thin partitions. The weight of whole fruits is 6–15 g. The yield of kernels, depending on the variety, ranges from 40 to 68%.

The first nuts appear on trees at the age of 7–9 years. Plants reach full maturity by the age of 20 and continue to bear fruit for up to 150–200 years. The lifespan of individual specimens exceeds the 500-year mark.

Walnut is not cold-resistant. Full cultivation is possible in regions where average annual temperatures are at least +10–12 °C, and during the active growing season +20–25 °C. Adult specimens survive short frosts down to –25–28 °C; during prolonged cold weather the crop freezes. In temperate climates, trees reach maturity and begin to bear fruit using proper agricultural technology.

Anti-aging pruning

In gardening, anti-aging pruning is also used; it is correct to do it for a walnut that is more than 10 years old . To do this, remove dry twigs and cut off the skeletal branches at the bottom. All this helps improve growth and yield. It is recommended to use the method in the case when fruiting is significantly reduced, the size of the walnut itself decreases, and its shape becomes irregular.

We advise you to read what to feed and how to properly water walnuts.

The correct time to trim an adult walnut is considered to be early spring . Highly growing branches that are located inside the crown are removed, which gives the plant excellent access to light. You need to cut off those parts that have lateral shoots, which allows development to the sides. As a result, the flow of nutrients improves, new buds appear, which form new shoots, and later a young crown appears, producing the nuts themselves.

Common mistakes when pruning

Since many gardeners do not have enough knowledge about pruning walnut trees, some errors occur during the shaping process. The most common of them are the following:

It is important not only to prepare the necessary tool, but also to sharpen it and clean it from dirt . This will help avoid the appearance of fungus, and all cuts will be smooth and neat. It is not recommended to use paint for processing, as many do.
It is forbidden to prune nuts in frosty weather ; the branches are fragile and difficult to remove.
Avoid any experiments . The whole process is complex and requires a lot of knowledge. Only through experience is it possible to make the correct shape of a walnut and improve the yield.
You should not get carried away with pruning shears and saws , so as not to harm the tree, otherwise it will simply die.

There is an opinion that the walnut does not need to be pruned, since the tree grows naturally without human intervention. But to get an excellent harvest, the process must be used.

Important! Before planting a walnut, it is necessary to shorten the lateral roots, and cut off the central part at the bottom where the size is smallest. The diameter of the root is cut to 1 cm.

Required Tools

Before starting work, you need to prepare special tools that will make the process much easier and more enjoyable:

Secateurs - used to remove the thinnest branches (no more than 20 mm thick). This tool looks like scissors with convex blades.
Lopper - in principle of operation and appearance it resembles a pruner with long handles. Capable of removing branches up to 50 mm thick.
A garden saw is no different from a regular saw, with the exception of the sickle-shaped blade, whose length is generally 30-35 cm.
Chainsaw - may be needed to remove thick branches, in addition, it will help get rid of medium-thick branches in a shorter period of time.
Garden knife - necessary for removing the green part of the plant and soft, one-year-old branches. It is also very convenient to use when cleaning various mechanical damage.
Stairs - as you know, the height of a tree is much greater than human height. In this case, the simplest and most effective assistant in pruning will be a stepladder. Professional samples will help you rise to a height of up to 8 meters.

Since pruning walnuts is a complex and painstaking procedure, when working with various tools we must not forget about personal protective equipment (gloves, goggles, etc.).

Processing large cuts on wood

There is an opinion that it is better not to process any pruning, to leave all the places as is for healing naturally. However, experts advise carrying out preventative measures for walnuts to prevent infection with fungus and other diseases.

Various solutions are made for processing, including:

sugar based - 1 tbsp. add 2.5 tsp of water. Sahara;
honey - 1 tbsp. dilute water with 3 tsp. honey;
potassium permanganate.

The gardener needs to treat the pruning areas immediately, since the surface is subject to oxidation even in winter

Cutting branches from a walnut tree is a difficult job to prepare for. When working with young trees, it is necessary to monitor any action; even one wrong step can destroy the nut. Timely pruning gives high yields and long-term fruiting.

After care

What to do:

Do not allow the tree trunk circle to dry out: water abundantly and regularly.
In spring and summer, immediately after pruning, loosen the tree trunk circle deeply enough (10 centimeters). In the fall - dig up.
Apply fertilizer: in spring - with nitrogen, in autumn - without it.
Make sure that the wounds left after pruning do not leak or rot.
Mulch with sawdust, peat or dry grass.
Weed the tree trunk to remove weeds and young shoots.

Hazelnuts are not a spoiled plant, as they were originally intended to grow freely in the forest. But, if you plan to grow it on your site, you can always achieve increased productivity. One of the mandatory items is pruning. This is a traumatic and stressful procedure. Therefore, choose a scheme, purchase a tool and put the “forest dweller” in order on your site.