Lateral shoot growth of apple, pear and cherry with selective disbudding on newly planted trees

To counteract the natural acrotonic shoot development common in fruit trees and obtain more uniform lateral bud growth along the stem, disbudding and leaning were applied to 1-year-old nursery trees of three fruit tree species. Disbudding consisted of selective removal of a number of lateral buds along the stem before sprouting, leaving pairs of lateral buds distanced 18-26 cm apart. Additionally, different numbers of lateral buds per plant were left by varying the height of the stems. Leaning to either 01, 301 or 401 from vertical was applied to nursery trees at planting in the orchard. Selective disbudding increased the percentage of lateral bud break and the uniformity of lateral shoot growth along the stem. Increasing the number of lateral bud pairs reduced the average lateral shoot length, causing the most vigorous growth in the basal and apical parts of the stem. Stem leaning slightly affected lateral bud break and caused a somewhat more basitonic response. The combination of the two treatments gave the most uniform lateral shoot growth.