Cut (horticulture)

With cut you in all areas of designated horticulture to bleed (: even circumcision ) of plants of all kinds One differentiates here three goals, the. Topiary , the maintenance pruning and harvesting cut in grasses and the like as mowing ( full cut ), in woody plants as pruning when younger, too strong growth is deposited on old wood .

Example of ornamental cut in Madeira , Botanical Garden above Funchal

Cutting measures

Reducing plants in volume includes - apart from agricultural and forestry harvest - activities such as:

• Crop cut
  • the mowing of meadow vegetation
  • generally the pruning as harvesting of grain and other useful plants
  • the harvest of ornamental plants as cut flowers and for other purposes
  • the Schneitelung - the harvest of leafy branches - for the extraction of roughage
• Care cut
  • the green cuttings , the lawn mowing
  • the pruning , e.g. B. fruit tree pruning or in residential areas the so-called crowning to control the crown volume and for safety reasons (removal of dead wood )
  • the rose pruning to promote vigor, abundance of flowers and the health of the roses
  • the vine training to growth happiness, income and health of the vine in promoting
  • Keeping traffic routes clear by cutting back trees and other vegetation, such as controlling vegetation in rail traffic
• Topiary
  • cutting the hedge to encourage it to grow thickly
  • in particular the ornamental cut ( topiary ) in gardening , in order to bring perennial plants - i.e. ornamental trees in gardens and parks - into an aesthetically desired shape
  • the art of bonsai - the "tree in the bowl" - with special techniques such as leaf pruning and root pruning
  • the sheet lines especially in ornamental plants, the growth stimulating

General techniques

Correct pruning of plants

It is important that nothing is cut off. The shoot should always end with a knot . The evaporation of water on the leaves leads to the sap flow from the roots. The wood after the knot or leafless shoots without end buds are thereby separated from the sap flow and the nutrients and can therefore not sprout and die as a result. Depending on the plant, whole areas can dry out, which can sometimes be seen with roses.

In order to achieve an even crown development, the (leading) branches of a wood are all shortened to about the same height ("juice balance").

For wood in particular, see the cut

Fruit tree pruning

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In addition to the care of fruit trees in the broader sense, fruit tree pruning also generally includes shrubs ( soft fruit ), climbing plants and similar woody plants. The pruning of the grapevine is a special form in viticulture , although it naturally serves the same purposes.

Fruit tree pruning

Various goals are pursued with the fruit tree pruning:

• “Forming”: The attempt is made to find a compromise between “load-bearing, supporting and nourishing wood”. The tree is then in a physiological equilibrium. The fruit tree should generally have a conical shape that is adapted to the natural growth form , i.e. H. the lower parts are wider than the upper ones. This is intended to achieve optimal "tanning" of the fruits and leaves .
• “Incidence of light”: An important goal of pruning is to clear out too dense branches. Only fruits in the sun are tasty fruits.
• “Control growth”: In general, “summer pruning” slows down tree growth and “winter pruning” stimulates it. The summer pruning and winter pruning are not limited to the corresponding months of the year , but the summer pruning represents the pruning in leafy condition and the winter pruning - in the vegetation break after leaf shedding until the beginning of the sap flow - the pruning in the non- leafy state. The goal of every pruning measure must ensure that there is always enough young wood available or that it is newly formed: Most fruit trees produce the best yields of relatively “young wood”, partly of “annual wood”, partly of up to five year old “perennial wood”. It should be noted, however, that you cannot generally choose between summer and winter pruning for every tree species. For example, peach and almond trees are only pruned during the flowering period (better wound healing and overview of the blossoms), winter pruning is usually used for sour cherry trees (the strong sprouting promotes the annual fruit-bearing wood) and sweet cherries are only grown in summer in the months of August and September cut (here the better wound healing is decisive). The walnut trees should be cut, according to recent findings from spring to June.
• “Controlling the yield”: Some fruit tree species, especially the cultivated apple , but also individual varieties tend to alternate , that is, excessive yields with a loss of harvest in the following year. This can be regulated by suitable "flower pruning" (that is, the pruning during the flowering period) and summer pruning.
• Promoting health: removing parts that are already infected with a plant disease, such as fruit tree canker , powdery mildew or fire blight ; but also the care of parts that are at risk of disease, such as open wounds, cut scars, dead wood or water pockets. See also: tree surgery or tree care .

The Oeschbergschnitt , developed by Hans Spreng in Oeschberg (Switzerland) at the end of the 1920s , is still the most important cutting technique for growing large-crowned fruit trees.

Videos

• Tree pruning, this is how it's done
• Cutting fruit trees correctly, Oeschberg-Palmer cutting for fruit trees - practical part
• Pruning fruit trees correctly, Oeschberg-Palmer pruning for fruit trees - theoretical part

literature

• Clemens Alexander Wimmer: Ars Topiaria - The story of the cut tree . In: Die Gartenkunst 1 (1/1989), pp. 20–32.

Web links

Wiktionary: Grass clippings  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Orchards cut The basics - NABU orchards page
• Fruit pruning educational trail Basic rules of tree development and pruning of fruit trees for half and High trunks (PDF file; 286 kB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The correct pruning of fruit trees on the orchard meadow at Nabu.de
2. ↑ Cutting time and cutting method for walnuts Part 1: Correct cutting time for walnuss trees , specialist article by arborist Johannes Bilharz, August 3, 2015.