Prune and train trees so as to maintain a balance of flowering spurs and new extension shoot growth.
- Lack of new growth, as may be experienced with trees of dessert varieties on M.27 rootstock, leads to high yield productivity but poor fruit size and grade-outs.
- Stimulate growth on trees producing too little extension growth by making cuts back to vegetative buds in positions where new shoots/branches are desired and remove weak shoots and spurs.
- The ends of weak fruiting branches should be tipped to an upward facing bud especially in varieties that crop on one year wood.
- On trees with excessive shoot growth, reduce this by training shoots to the horizontal (or lower).
- Where summer shoot growth results in shading of fruitlets and poor fruit colour at harvest use summer pruning techniques to open up the tree canopy and expose the developing fruitlets to better light conditions.
Observations on Gala trees growing in New Zealand suggest that large fruits are only produced on large calibre fruiting wood (Wilton, 1997 see Further reading).
- Fruit bud quality and the strength of carrying the buds is believed to be more important than the age of wood.
- Buds formed on one-year-shoots (axillary flower buds) can set and size good fruits, if they are carried on wood of 10 mm or more in diameter.
- The same author believes that bourse shoots, which terminate growth early in the season, are essential for maximising fruit growth potential.
- Weak wood should be shortened to two or three buds.
- This weak wood is usually the source of small fruits, especially if it is located in shaded parts of the tree canopy.