Are tree buds branches, leaves or fruits?

GabrielaT · April 2023

Hello. I’m very new to gardening and, in my ignorance, I thought I’d start with something really complicated - fan training of fruit trees. I‘ve done LOTS of reading on the subject but I feel none the wiser. Anyway, I bought semi-dwarf 1 year whips, set up the wires against the wall and gave the trees their initial pruning. I cut the stem at an angle above 2 lateral buds, from which the branches should develop… However, I’ve done the cut to the apple tree more than a couple of months ago and the lateral buds/ branches don’t seem to have grown at all since I cut the main stem. I’ll try to post a photo if the site allows it.

Are the branches dead or do they grow slower than this?

I also recently cut the stem of the cherry tree which is also intended for fan training, and one of the buds (the top right one) seems to turn into a bunch of leaves rather than a branch!

How can I tell which bud becomes a branch and which becomes…something else?

Thank you very much. I really did try to find info about this on the internet

Jenny_Aster · April 2023

I'm no expert on fan training trees so I'll miss commenting on the pruning, except to say that if you're in the UK there will be hardly any noticeable growth in the last several months as the trees are only now coming out of their winter dormancy.

Ceres · April 2023

Patience is something that all gardeners need and that few of us have. Enjoy the spring weather and don't fret about the trees. Once they start to put on a bit of growth you will be able to get some idea of what they are doing. If there is no growth from the buds then the tree may push out some leaves from lower down and you can start again (providing the growth is not from below the graft). Like the other posters, I have never been brave enough to go in for fan training so I commend your resolution to have mastery over your trees.

This may help explain things............I certainly learned something from it. https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/how-do-tree-branches-form/

GabrielaT · April 2023

Thank you all for your answers. When I was a young girl who thought she could never afford a house with a garden I fell inlove with a fan trained pear tree I saw in a garden and promised myself that if I ever had a garden I’d have fan trained trees. The gardener(s) in that public garden must have obviously been very experienced but what did I know?? I never thought it would be so complicated! Anyway, I need 1 branch on either side of the apple tree to start my fan so if the left hand branch, which looks damaged, doesn’t recover, I’ll have to start again with a new tree. There had been other buds/branches lower down the main stem but the nursery removed them.

I don’t want another tree, I want this one!

I feel like crying

GabrielaT · April 2023

I forgot to say that I live just south of London, on the border between London and Surrey. And Happy Easter everyone 😙 🥚 🐰!

Liriodendron · April 2023

Hi @GabrielaT and Happy Easter to you too! I really don't think you need to worry about that left hand branch - as @pansyface has indicated, although one bud appears to have been damaged, there's another growth bud on that shoot which can replace it. Fingers crossed!

GabrielaT · April 2023

Its aliiiiive! 😀

bcpathome · April 2023

Trees take an absolute age to grow . You probably won’t even be able to start training it for a couple of years . Don’t throw it away just enjoy what it does . Think of it as a child . You can’t really start training them to behave till they’re about 2 years old .

Are tree buds branches, leaves or fruits?

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