it's that time again

Orchard pruning time is here again - it's a job I find really satisfying.

This time last year, I dragged Mr Asparagus Pea out of bed and into work with me on a Saturday morning, to shoot a video of how to prune a pear tree. The weather was unkind.
It lashed down, and all the shots were spoiled by rain on the lens. 

So one year on, with a sparkly sunny day forecast for Saturday, we thought we'd have another go.

It was a fabulous frosty morning, and I'm really pleased with how our little film turned out. 

Fruit pruning is a big subject - many worthy tomes have been written. 

I wanted to demonstrate the process, and give people confidence to have a go.

(Hopefully without boring the pants off them). 

Massive thanks, as always, to my patient, clever husband for his camera and editing skills.

rosy roses

Way back one cold, rainy Saturday morning in November, I dragged Mr Asparagus Pea out of bed very early to come in to work with me and shoot a little video about pruning rambling roses. Then the following morning I did it again! (Good job he loves me huh?). Pear tree this time - but that's another story for another day.

This week we finally got round to finishing the editing process on the rose pruning.

here's how they're looking now...

... and here's a link to the video we made...
(the captions are bilingual - Welsh/English)

the first day of spring

It's the first day of spring and it's St David's Day here in Wales.

We finally managed to finish all the winter pruning in the orchard this week.  The books say that the trees are dormant from November to March.  As you can see from the buds, this pear tree clearly hasn't read the books and has woken up early.

pear tree bud

When you're doing formative pruning on young trees I think it's helpful to know an important thing about how trees grow:

they don't stretch - they add on.

So when you're looking at your tree it's not going to get bigger like someone is blowing it up with a bicycle pump - it's going to add bits on like building with Lego.  The branch at nose height will always be at nose height unless you cut it off, (the branch - not your nose), it will never be 10 feet up in the air.  With young trees you should be working on making a nice sturdy framework with well spaced branches.  The bit that's going to have the fruit on it comes later.

here is a before and after of a young apple

before

after

I know it looks a bit drastic, but the mature tree will be so much better if you prune for shape in the first few years.  Some trees will produce a bit of fruit when they're quite young, which runs the risk of the branches snapping under their own weight.  Now that's much more heartbreaking than a bit of strict pruning in the name of sturdiness!

And now - as it's St Davids Day, a gratuitous picture of a (giant) daffodil....

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus - Happy St David's Day

happy St Dwynwen's day

Just remembered as I sat down to write a post about pruning cuts, that it's St Dwynwen's day in Wales.  She's the patron saint of lovers and her story, (various versions available), is a tragic tale of thwarted young love and ending up in a nunnery on Anglesey.  So a happy St Dwynwen's to you all - seedy in the best possible way!

Now in a slightly strange juxtaposition - let's talk some more about pruning.......

There’s an awful lot of palaver made in gardening books about getting the angle of your pruning cuts exactly right so that the water runs off.  This has always struck me as slightly spurious – we’re not talking gate posts or shed roofs here!

I think it’s easier to remember what to do if you think about how plants grow – it’s all about the nodes.  The bit where a bud/leaf emerges from a shoot is called the node, and the bits in between are called the internodal spaces (feel free to impress your friends down the pub with that one).  In terms of growing action, the plant can only produce a new shoot from a node.

When you’re making a pruning cut, the thing you want snuggled right up close to the end of the shoot is a bud.  If you leave a stub by angling your pruning cut the ‘wrong’ way, or cutting halfway up the internodal space, the plant tissue will just die back until it gets to a viable bud.  So if you were doing something like an apple tree where you cut every single shoot, you’d end up with a halo of dead stuff all over the plant.  Your pruning cuts should leave the plant ready for action when the sap rises in the spring with a nice healthy bud at the end of each shoot.

too long

sloping wrong way

correct

The same theory applies to taking cuttings – the thing you need at the bottom of the cutting for root production is a node.  So make the cut at the bottom of your cutting just below a bud/leaf joint. Convention has it that these cuts should be straight across rather than angled.  The main benefit of doing this is it helps you tell which way up the cutting should go when you stick it in the pot – pointy at the top, flat at the bottom.

pointy end up - flat end down

more from the orchard

I’ve just been watching a DVD about pruning produced by a well known seed house; a) because I was told to, and b) even though you think you know what you’re talking about, it’s always good to check, (especially if you’re planning on dishing out advice yourself).  It claimed to be copyright 2004, but I would say by the size of the hairdos that it was probably a remastered video from the late 80’s. It was well produced and informative and I have learned the following

- Seems like I mostly do know what I’m talking about – phew! (At least on the subject of pruning anyway).
- An hour is way too long for any kind of instructional film – if it’s more than 20 minutes it better have Johnny Depp in it.
- It might seem like a good idea to have men in tweed telling you that it’s all ‘quite simple really, just remember this handy rhyme…’ but after an hour they all sort of run together into ‘If it blooms before noon, then prune by June!’

So I promise I’ll try and keep the advice in bite size chunks - will maybe consider working on some rhyming mnemonics though.

Today the orchard is very snowy – it makes the tree forms stand out more though, which is handy for my next exposition:

These trees are pruned as clear stem standards – this is a traditional look which would have been used in orchards where the intention was to graze livestock under the trees.  Modern orchards look more like vineyards, with densely planted rows of tightly pruned trees on ultra dwarfing rootstocks. Being able to carry out all pruning and picking operations at ground level is a huge advantage for commercial growers.

For your own backyard orchard, both styles have their advantages.  Clear stem trees are great for lounging around underneath, attaching hammocks etc and give any space a dollop of rustic charm.  More strictly pruned forms, like the espalier and cordons pictured below, are great for formal settings or anywhere where limited space is a consideration.

So think about your rootstocks people – that’s what controls the size of the tree. Pruning controls the shape, or ‘habit’ of the tree, but not the size.  Getting both right from the start will give you the jump on getting the backyard orchard of your dreams.

To get you started - here is a useful guide to rootstocks… 

... and for all you nascent tree nerds out there – here is a guide to tree forms, as defined by the UK Horticultural Trades Association: