How to Prune your Fruit Tree
Less is definitely best when it comes to pruning fruit trees. This was just one of the many, many helpful tips we picked up from our resident expert on the subject, Jon, at Saturday's workshop.
Jon, who plot-shares at the allotments, is a member of the Brendon Orchards Co-operative and has been running fruit-tree pruning workshops for 7 years. It was an absolute privilege to attend his demonstration which opened our eyes to the various mistakes we've all been making with our pruning.
We left armed with lots of new-found knowledge and a much better understanding of how trees grow and react to different stimuli, and how to work with that to achieve the result we want. The professionals can prune a fruit tree with only three cuts of the secateurs or saw. As beginners we are allowed five. This rule of thumb really makes you stand back and think about how best to maximise the effect of those few cuts. Sometimes this means taking out a quite large branch in order to open out the shape of the tree.
Jon's teaching was first rate: detailed; relevant and interesting. He taught us a memory aid and a methodology to get results every time and showed us the importance of appraising the tree from a distance and from many angles before making that all-important adjustment.
All of us who attended were very pleased that we had. Thank you Jon for your time, expertise and patience!
Jon, who plot-shares at the allotments, is a member of the Brendon Orchards Co-operative and has been running fruit-tree pruning workshops for 7 years. It was an absolute privilege to attend his demonstration which opened our eyes to the various mistakes we've all been making with our pruning.
We left armed with lots of new-found knowledge and a much better understanding of how trees grow and react to different stimuli, and how to work with that to achieve the result we want. The professionals can prune a fruit tree with only three cuts of the secateurs or saw. As beginners we are allowed five. This rule of thumb really makes you stand back and think about how best to maximise the effect of those few cuts. Sometimes this means taking out a quite large branch in order to open out the shape of the tree.
Jon's teaching was first rate: detailed; relevant and interesting. He taught us a memory aid and a methodology to get results every time and showed us the importance of appraising the tree from a distance and from many angles before making that all-important adjustment.
All of us who attended were very pleased that we had. Thank you Jon for your time, expertise and patience!
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