Take steps now to prevent overloaded fruit tree branches from breaking

Snap, crackle and pop is a fine, fun sound for a breakfast cereal, but not so great coming from a fruit tree in your yard.

Many trees are loaded beyond carrying capacity this year, and as the fruit matures, its weight will inevitably crack and even break off branches — unless you act before the law of gravity gets enforced. 

You have a couple of options to keep your trees from being damaged: Lighten the load by removing fruit or brace branches to provide extra support.

Part of strategy one will happen automatically. June drop is largely associated with apples, but overloaded fruit trees of all types will self-thin to some degree. My quince and peaches are letting go of some fruit right now. But the plums and pears are very stubborn. 

Summer pruning is fine for most trees. You can cut off some branches, but if you are like me, it’s hard to purposely get rid of future fruit. You can help a little by shaking the branches, being careful not to break them. But because many fruit trees have been bred to produce more and bigger fruit, when the elements line up to produce a bumper crop, you also get a setup for tree damage.

The more effective answer is often to brace the branches. Sticks or boards as close to the end of a branch are ideal, but bracing in the middle will at least keep the branch from breaking off at the trunk.

A piece of cloth on the branch will reduce bark damage, and little wings or antennae on the tops of the support sticks will cradle the branch and help keep the support staff from coming off in the wind, just when it is needed.

Alternatively, if the trunk is strong enough, you can tie strings from higher up in the truck down to the branches. This is more work than support sticks and will require time on a ladder (in the hot sun), but it does avoid having a bunch of sticks to run into under the tree. Again, a little cloth between the branch and the string will reduce bark damage. 

If you already have a broken branch that is not completely separated, you can splint it, or just hope the fruit on it ripens. After harvest, trim the branch back to the branch collar, that spot a quarter to a half an inch from the trunk where the branch diameter becomes consistent.  Never paint the end of a cut with tar or anything else. That will encourage rot and insect damage and make it harder for the tree to heal.

In July, I will tell you how to dry fruit in the sun, and make your own fruit leather, so do your best now to keep that bumper crop and the branches that are supporting your future harvest firmly attached to the tree.