Pruning Season is Here

 

Well it is mid winter and time to start thinking about trees for the upcoming year. This piece will come out the 2^nd week in February and there is still time to get that pruning in. Also, it is time to start those grafting efforts but that is a topic for another day.

Let’s start off with pruning. It is actually mid January and I need to prune my fruit trees to get ready for the upcoming season. You can prune fruit trees any time in the dormant cycle. You can even selectively prune during the summer if need be. But, we usually prune any time between November and February. We are in growing zone 6 in the United States for comparison for you folks that live overseas or not within the US, our climate in zone 6 means we experience cold winters and warm summers. Our lowest temps usually are never below -10F(-23C). Frost dates are: last frost April 15 and First Frost Nov 1^st. This has changed some since I was a kid, the growing season has lengthened. With a hardy growing season of between 180 and 198 days depending on when the first and last frost occur.

Now I have never had a class and I am no horticultural expert. That being said I learned to prune fruit trees from my dad who learned from his father, who learned from his father. There is no real Zen method of pruning a fruit tree. First you have to understand the nature of the tree. By this I mean - is it a dwarf, semi dwarf or a full size fruit tree. A full size apple or pear tree can grow to a whopping 40’ tall with a 50’ spread. If you have ever tried to harvest apples from a full size tree you understand that unless you are young and can climb like a monkey you are not getting anything from the top till it falls on its own.

Semi Dwarf trees can even be a challenge being 20’ or so tall. Pole harvesters make it where you can harvest most of the fruit from a semi dwarf tree. Finally, dwarf trees are much easier to harvest than either of the others but the amount of fruit is limited. It is not uncommon for a full size adult tree to give you bushels of apples instead of a few to eat. Once apples begin to fall from and adult tree it is a daily effort to get them all up and processed during their season. The bees will love you for them for their flowers in the spring and fruit on the ground in either summer or fall. But pruning for me is a fairly simple operation. Once a tree is full size there is not a lot that can be done with the upper canopy just keep the water limbs off the lower part of the tree and remove dead wood.  Water limbs are the green suckers that often grow on the trunks of mature trees. Above the graft and they can fruit but below the graft they are the root stock and not the apples you want anyway. Either way we get rid of them all.

We start pruning when a tree reaches about 5 yrs old. Remember you often purchase trees when they are 2 yrs old already. So 3 yrs after planting it is time for the first pruning. In this first pruning I was taught that too many large limbs will be a burden on the tree later. Pick 3 or 4 larger limbs and get rid of the other larger limbs. Cut them off right at the trunk of the tree. It will heal right over. Once this is accomplished, then look for any limbs that are crossing each other and rubbing together. This is where rot and disease can enter the tree one or both of these need to be removed. Once this is done, look at the overall shape of the tree, is it balanced? A tree with the weight more on one side will lean with time. It will make it hard on the roots to support the weight. Next thing you know it will be blown over with the extra weight of fruit on it. Finally, clear space enough to mow under the tree. A tree you cannot access underneath will eventually get competition for nutrients from its understory and you can’t harvest fruit either.

The dead wood you have removed should be hauled away from the tree. It can be a source for disease. Pole loppers can be used on the Trees you can’t reach. Clean all your tools between trees. About 2 days after the pruning you should spray the tree with a dormant oil spray, this will have it ready for the rest of the winter. It will help keep down pests.  

My grandfather had gotten older and into his 70’s and unable to take care of his trees like he had liked and he asked my father to help him get his trees he hadn’t pruned in nearly 10 years in shape. My dad was never half way about anything. Sometimes he could be completely overzealous. One of Paws trees was very overgrown. When dad, my brother and I started pruning that tree we kept at it until there were only 5 or 6 major limbs and no leaves left on the tree in late fall. Paw lamented “you have killed my tree! I will die and never see another apple off that tree!” Well the truth is I thought he was probably right I was 10 at the time. Dad said “That tree will spring back in the spring and in a couple of years will be bearing fine.” In 3 yrs the tree had more apples than I had ever seen on it before. It was loaded. They were hanging like grapes. Dad told me that was the best way to handle an old full size tree that has been let go. I have one here on my property that is probably 40 or 50 yrs old that I am thinking of doing the same way. It was the only living fruit tree on the property when we came to this homestead. It may get that treatment this winter.

All of my fruit trees are ready to be pruned. We currently have plums, peaches, cherries, pears, apples, and mulberries. So I have my work cut out this winter, pruning is going to be a thing that needs to happen. I got my first peaches this year. Little wormy things but the trees are nearly 9 yrs old. I have yet to get a plum or cherry. Of the 5 apple trees I have planted the Black Alabama has outdone itself for two yrs now and it is only 5 or 6 yrs old.  The others have had a few apples. I am not one for dwarf or semi dwarf trees except for plums and cherries. We got maybe 20 pears this year. However, our neighbor has a full size tree in the fence line that is loaded nearly every year dropping bushels on my side of the fence. I planted pecans with no luck but the property has several large black walnut trees as well as several young mulberry trees that I have encouraged. We also have black berries, elderberries, and raspberries that were on the property when we arrived.

I have counted 22 sugar maple trees that are larger than 36” in diameter. No pruning required. I am considering tapping them for maple syrup but we don’t use a lot of syrup so I don’t know. We also won’t be able to use the fruit from 6 full size apple trees either but I still planted them. The youngest of those is an Early Transparent. I have been looking for those for years. I finally just agreed to wait for 2 yrs on backordered stock at Stark Bro’s Nursery and got them both this last spring. The tree growing in my yard when I was a kid Granny called a June Apple – I know now it is Early/Yellow Transparent. It is a Russian apple from the 1800’s and one of the best eating and frying apples I ever ate, plus they will be a taste of childhood. I bought two of them. I hope I get to enjoy their fruit before I am too old to fool with it. They were just one year bare root stock trees and I have babied them all winter.

Anyway, enough talking and time to go out and do some pruning. I probably have 5 or 6 days worth of pruning work to do. I hope this finds you well and I hope that you will think of us in these dark winter days and I hope you are as happy as I am to be in the here and now. You can get to that kind of happiness and peace too, if you just remember that Life, like Homesteading, is a Marathon and Not a Sprint – Slow Dow and Enjoy the Ride!!!

  

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