{"id":611974873414,"date":"2025-10-16T16:41:45","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T16:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ashridgetrees.co.uk\/blogs\/uncategorized\/pruning-new-maiden-fruit-trees-open-centre\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T08:41:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T08:41:22","slug":"pruning-new-maiden-fruit-trees-open-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ashridgetrees.co.uk\/blogs\/fruit\/pruning-new-maiden-fruit-trees-open-centre\/","title":{"rendered":"Pruning New Fruit Trees"},"content":{"rendered":"

Formative pruning of new, freestanding fruit trees<\/a>, starts with either unbranched Maidens<\/strong>, or young Bushes<\/strong> or Half Standards<\/strong> with a further year\u2019s branch development.<\/p>

Pruning A Maiden Fruit Tree \u201cOpen Centre\u201d<\/h2>

These videos apply equally to new fruit trees containing pips like apples<\/a> and pears<\/a>, and those containing stones, like plum<\/a> and cherry<\/a>, being grown as \u201cordinary trees\u201d. <\/p>

There are many ways to prune fruit trees! Wire training<\/a> opens up a new world of fruit tree training options.<\/p>

This page sticks to the basic, popular Open Centre tree<\/strong>, which opens out the canopy into a hollow ring, making good use of garden space, easy to prune and harvest, with sunlight hitting all the fruit. <\/p>

Pruning a maiden fruit tree as a Bush or Half-Standard Length Trunk <\/h2>

\u201cBush\u201d and \u201cHalf-Standard\u201d refer to the length of the trunk before it divides into main branches, and therefore the size of the adult tree. <\/p>