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  • From: "elderberryjam" <elderberryjam@zippytech.com>
  • To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Pruning the Neglected Fruit Tree (TradingPostPaul)
  • Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 04:56:52 -0400

Two autumns ago we pruned some very old plum trees, figuring we'd end up killing some of them. They were covered with black knot, and had been for over 25 years. They were still producing, very small, wormy plums that are deep purple with a greenish flesh. They were grown tall and thin like lombardi poplars in shape. We cut them off the top and pruned off any branch with a knot on it, and burned it all. We figured there were some new shoots we could save into trees if these died.

Two springs later, they are at a pick-able height, and have put out so many new branches that the thought that we killed them seems a joke. They either did not bloom this year or didn't bloom much and the frost got what did bloom. In the past, they've been covered with blooms in the spring. My husband has kept pruning any branch showing signs of the black knot. The shape is now a little more ball-like on top.

My long gone great uncles once had an orchard and fruit farm here. Some of the apple trees still survive, and we don't know the varieties. I'd love to salvage them. Some are rather tall though, and I wouldn't know where to start. But we may prune them some this coming autumn.

Gwen



  • [Livingontheland] Pruning the Neglected Fruit Tree (TradingPostPaul), elderberryjam, 05/27/2007

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