The cultivation of dwarf trees in the lane form has no major advantage over the circular form. The crowns of dwarf trees are only 2-3 meters in diameter, so row by row you can plant what 4 m, limiting sideways growth with moderate pruning. Properly pruned dwarf trees, composed of circular or oval trees, form a hedge in orchards, which has similar properties to the typical lined form.
At a time when lane crowns were formed in the gardens near the palace, by giving the branches a regular shape and using labor-intensive summer pruning, the highest quality fruit was obtained from these forms. Currently, forming and cutting the lanes is simplified. To obtain early fruiting, almost all shoots in the crown are bent and placed in one plane. Already three years after planting the trees, a solid wall is created, in which the branches are generally less sunlit than in circular crowns of trees of the same age. No wonder either, that in young row orchards the fruit is generally less colored than in young orchards with circular crowns.
If we compare the conditions of insolation of the crowns of older trees, 15—20 years old, they will generally be better in lined than circular crowns. It is hard for the sun to reach the center of the large circular crowns. Lined crowns then have an advantage in this respect, ensuring even sun exposure and good fruit quality.
Oval crowns can be similar to circular crowns or lane crowns, depending on their thickness. Oval thick crowns have the features of circular crowns. Oval crowns of poorly growing trees, with a small thickness, they are similar to lane crowns.
Characteristics of conductive and wireless crowns
Some species, such as pear trees, naturally form guided crowns. Most of the apple trees, cherry, as well as plum trees of the greenhouse group, creates wireless crowns.
Forms are formed in commercial courts,ę deliberately conductive crowns, wireless or with quick reference guide. The advantage of a conductive crown is its strong construction. On the main and strong axis of the tree, what is the guide, boughs much thinner than it are embedded, very closely related to it. Conductor crowns are able to bear a large yield of fruit without the need to support the branches. The disadvantage of conductive crowns is the low exposure to sunlight on the lower branches, especially when the guide is tall, and the arrangement of the branches is multistory.
The cordless crown is usually in the shape of a cup or cauldron, and hence some varieties of it are called the cup or cauldron crown.. Several branches grow from one place on the trunk and then they are of a similar thickness. The association of the limbs with the trunk is generally weak. The crown can easily tear under the fruit mass, therefore loaded branches must be tied or supported. If the crown is cup-shaped, it is perfectly insolated. Crowns with an abbreviated guide are currently dominant in European commercial orchards, which combine the advantages of the previous two. The guide is 1.5-2 m high (counting from the lowest branch) holds some side limbs, a limited number of which prevents the lower parts of the tree from being shaded too much. The guide is trimmed over the highest branch, On the height 2,0-2,5 m from the ground.
Cordless crowns, boiler, cup, vases can be found mainly in peach and apricot orchards, where they are formed in order to obtain the best possible exposure to sunlight for all branches. They are more and more often replaced by conductive lane crowns.
Several experiments carried out abroad compared the fertility of trees grown in the guide and wireless form. It turned out, that the presence of the conductor has no significant effect on the size of the fruit yield. Among others, Preston in England conducted many years of experiments on this subject and found no differences in the yielding of apple trees grown in a kettle form and with a short guide.
Characteristics of whorls, two-story, loose-storey, double-storey and combined
If the crown has a conductor, it is the side shoots growing on it that are often grouped in whorls. Each year a shoot whorl is formed on a young tree, from which the boughs later develop. So, whorl crowns are crowns with a natural arrangement of branches. Fruit trees usually form one or two distinct whorls.
By cutting, you can change the natural arrangement of the branches on the guide by grouping the branches in floors, in loose floors or leaving them individually. Then, multi-storey crowns are formed, loose-story, double-deck and combined.
Until the end of the 1950s, crowns were formed in orchards with a strictly defined number of branches and specific spacing between them. In the Soviet Union and Poland, loose-tiered crowns with a guide and 6-8 branches were popular. In Western Europe, cauldron crowns were formed 5-7 branches. In America, tiered crowns with four branches were recommended.
The formation of the above-mentioned crowns required cutting out many shoots on a young tree, for it grows naturally in three years to 15 side shoots, while the limbs are needed at most 8 shoots. Intensive pruning is not conducive to early fruiting of trees.
Currently, in intensive orchards, we expect the first crops 2-3 years after planting the trees. Hence, we avoid cutting shoots by forming crowns with any number of branches. Only after the trees enter the period of fruiting, we thin out the limbs, limiting their number to 7-8. In this way, crowns similar to those of low tiers are formed, but with a less schematic arrangement of the branches.
Characteristics of almost natural crowns, free, regulated and artificial
Young trees bear fruit best when they have almost natural crowns, because they require the least amount of cutting. Free-form crowns are just as good, if limb development is regulated due to weak cutting and bending of the shoots. These two systems are most commonly used in intensive orchards. Crowns of this type include the forms recommended by us: almost natural crown, floating crown, spindle crown.
Adjustable crowns, having a strictly defined number of limbs, from which small fruit-bearing branches grow, they are less popular now. These include, among others, Italian palmette and an adjustable line.
Artificial crowns, having only branches covered with spurs, rarely found in commercial courts. In Western Europe, they are popular in home gardens. These are various types of horizontal and vertical cords, candlesticks, bows, fans, etc..