Scoring the leader

DLH

Active Member
Does anyone do this with their Apple or pear trees? I thought someone had discussed this on the old forum.
 
Yes, if you are trying to get a bud to form a new branch. Score just above the bud as the buds begin to swell in the spring on last years wood. I use a hacksaw blade.
 
Thanks just down to the cambium above the bud where you want a branch to form? That's seems simple enough I'll give that a try this year. That go for any fruit trees or does it work better for some than others?
 
Make the cut through the cambium layer. I have done it on apple and pear. I would assume that it will work on all fruit trees. You are just stopping the flow hormones long enough from the tip of the leader to get the branch initiated.
 
I did it on several trees in my yard......most of them responded with good new growth. I did have a few that did not really do much but I think that is more a function of the fact that it was older wood I was trying to "branch"
 
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