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["Alan Haigh" <alandhaigh@gmail.com>]

As I've posted on this site and written in NAFEX, selecting scaffolds about a third the diameter of the leader at the point of attachment is the best thing you can do to subdue excessively vigorous trees.  I'm not going to go into detail here except to say that a less vigorous branch not only fruits younger but it allows the trunk to build strong connective tissue at the joint.

 

As far as spreading branches, of course for most species managed as free-standing trees it's usually unwise to spread wider than 60 degrees although for European plums I sometimes just go for broke in an effort to develop some early spurring.  For this I pull branches well below horizontal.  The idea mentioned in a previous post of cutting branches back by half in summer was probably referring to developing spur-wood on espaliers and refers to small shoots in this approach.

 

Speaking of espaliers, if it was impossible to create a productive tree by pulling branches to horizontal, espaliers would sure look different.  They are mostly managed with summer pruning and require a different technique than pruning free-standers.

 

Lately I've been pruning my peaches to a central leader to create a narrower tree with shorter and stronger branches.  I've only been working at this for a few years but it seems  to work well and allows you to keep a peach in a smaller space.  To do this you absolutely have to remove the larger diameter branches.