Tree Wrestling

We had fun hosting Laura from Fine Lines Landscape and Designs.  Her fruit tree pruning workshop was very informative but the highlight of the afternoon was seeing Laura in action.

She impressed us with lots of strategic sawing and clipping.

At one point, Laura even "wrestled" a tree as she was explaining that you should be continually moving around a tree while pruning it.  Laura 1: Tree 0.  The tree did not stand a chance!

One of the best things I learned is that pruning is not meant to stop a tree from growing; instead, it is meant to guide the type and direction of growth to suit your purposes.

For example, if you want to encourage side branching, you need to prune right down to where the branches meet.  This forces lateral growth.  See the right hand diagram.

Alternatively, you can also prune a branch part way down.  This will slow the growth of the branch without encouraging bushing out.  See left hand diagram.  The branch will continue to grow but in the direction of the bud you left closest to the top.  It is all so fascinating.

A great afternoon was had by all, though many of us had damp, chilly feet by the end.  Now all that is left to do is to wait for some of the snow to melt so I can put my new pruning skills into action.  I have lots of work ahead of me but hopefully fruit tree pruning is something Alistair and I can do together.

Look! TWO free hands!