Ringing
Ringing, similarly to bending shoots, it belongs to very old horticultural procedures. So far, it has not been widely used in practice. Sometimes it is used occasionally in order to inhibit too intensive growth of trees.
Ringing is performed as follows. Two parallel incisions are made on the bark around a limb or trunk, approx 1 centimeter. Then a ring-shaped strip of bark is pulled off, leaving a so-called bridge, i.e. a piece of uncontracted bark, width from 1 into 2 Cm. The area of the pulled bark is smeared with any agent used to protect cut wounds. Ringing is performed after the juices are moved, usually in May.
Ways of ringing: a - spiral wedding ring; b - simple ring ; c - compression ring.
Ringing can be performed by pressing the bark through a ring made of sheet metal, a ring of wire or even a string twisted around the branch. However, these measures must be removed after a few months, otherwise they cut off the branch and break it off, ringing.
Sometimes, when tying bent shoots, we encounter unintentional ringing and we can observe its effects. If the string tied to the shoot is not cut in time, it is a thickening shoot that cuts into it and a ring is formed. Ringing hinders the outflow of assimilates from the branch to the trunk and roots, and conducting the mineral salts in the opposite direction. A ringed tree takes the appearance of a starved tree. The increments are thin and short, small and bright leaves. Ringed trees generally bloom profusely and bind fruit well. Very often the fruits are small, not matured but beautifully stained.
In our climatic conditions, only apple and pear trees can be ringed. Ringing stone trees causes their infection with bark and wood diseases and dieback. Ringing on apple and pear trees gives divergent results and therefore it has never found wide application in practice.. In some cases, thanks to ringing, it is possible to inhibit the excessive growth of trees and force them to yield abundantly. In others, either the trees still grow strong and bear little fruit, or they stop growing completely and bear very small fruit. So ringing is a procedure, which we usually use as a last resort. Intending to grub up trees that are too vigorous, you can try one more treatment - ringing - to make the trees more fertile and leave for a few years in the orchard.
Cutting the bark
Like ringing, its purpose is to impede the passage of food, their accumulation in tissues and acceleration of fruiting. Descriptions of cutting the bark along or across the trunk and branches can be found in old orchard manuals. Currently, this procedure is not practiced on older trees. Sometimes the bark is incised on annual and biennial shoots during crown formation. A V-shaped incision in the bark above the bud causes a strong shoot to be kicked out of the bud, which can replenish the blank in the crown. An incision under the bud inhibits its development or creates a fruiting short shoot.
The influence of cutting the bark on the development of buds: a- an incision above the bud produces a strong shoot, b- an incision under the bud creates a fruiting shoot
Pulling out the buds
Bud popping is sometimes used in some orchards to form more elaborate crowns. Removing some of the buds on the shoot allows the shoots to grow stronger from the buds left on.
By removing the buds, the number of sprouts and the shape of the crown can be regulated. Removing buds is similar to cutting. Due to the time-consuming nature of this procedure, it is not widely used in practice.