Fruit Tree and Pruning Record

What this sheet is for

Keep the details that vanish with the label — variety, rootstock and planting year — and build a pruning and cropping history alongside them.

Who it is for

Anyone with fruit trees, soft fruit or a small orchard, and anyone who has inherited trees somebody else planted.

How to use it

1. Fill in the register once, copying variety and rootstock from the labels while they are still readable.
2. Number the trees on the register and use the numbers in the log below.
3. Record each pruning with the date and what you actually did to the tree.
4. Note yield and problems in the same year, so the two can be read together.

What is on the sheet

The layout is fixed at a size that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the A4 and Letter files are visually identical and print at full size on either. Rows are set at a height that an adult can actually write a date and a few words into with a pen — most printable tables are built in a word processor and never tested with one.

Questions

Why record the rootstock?

Because on a grafted fruit tree it is the rootstock, not the variety, that governs eventual size and vigour — and it is nearly impossible to find out once the label has gone. It is the single most useful thing to write down on planting day.

Why does the sheet not say when to prune?

Because it depends on the fruit, the rootstock, the trained form and the climate, and getting it wrong by a season has real consequences. Take the method from guidance for your species and your area; this sheet records what you did and what happened afterwards.