North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Christopher Mauchline" <mauch1@aol.com>]

> healthy.  It is about 4.5' tall.  This winter, a deer (I assume) has
> nibbled the terminal buds off of most of the branches.  This 
surprised
> me, as I haven't had any deer damage on the crabs or other 
ornamentals. 
> (It will get a little fence come spring.)  The main leader and one 
of
> the higher branches retain their terminal buds.  How and when 
should I
> prune it?  We still have snow on the ground, but the sap is rising 
in
> the maples.  There is also some damage the the trunk, near the 
ground. 
> It looks like it was swiped with a shovel, but it more likely was 
chewed
> on my the neighbor's dog.  The cut goes about 1/3 around the trunk, 
and
> looks dried up.  Should I do anything other than wrap some screen 
around
> it to prevent further damage?
Your trunk damage could be rabbit or vole also.  I've had good luck 
w/ the plastic spiral tree wraps, but I know that others on this 
group have not.  Its just damage that will have to heal.

You might want to prune the terminal buds, but it depends in part on 
what training "Style" you're looking for:

Vase (usually used for stone fruit, but sometimes pome fruit):
http://ssfruit.cas.psu.edu/chapter5/chapter5e.htm

Central Leader:
http://ssfruit.cas.psu.edu/chapter4/chapter4f.htm
(one thing I noticed about this that it does not mention:  On a 
typical "central leader" write-up it says that "each" scaffold branch 
should be seperated from another on the trunk by 5-6 inches.  Hmmm.

Modified Central Leader:
Basically Central Leader that you only let get so tall and 
then "prune to a weakly growing branch".  I'm going to be using this 
alot.

French Axe (I believe Ed Fackler used this system extensively):
http://tfpg.cas.psu.edu/french_axe/slide1.htm

> trunk, and encourage the top to spread out.  There are buds all 
along
> the stem - one for each or last year's leaves.  Should I remove 
these as
> they swell, or should I leave some leaf growth lower?  Is there 
anything
> else I ought to do?
Probably the lower buds should be removed.  On some varieties of 
grapes you might want to leave a few lower buds as an "insurance 
policy" for winter kill, but Canadice is fairly hardy.  Do you have 
your trellis up?  Do you plan to use cane or spur training for your 
Canadice?

Chris Mauchline
SE PA, zone 6

--- In nafex@y..., Ginda Fisher <ginda@c...> wrote:
> My plants came with pruning instructions, but that was a year or two
> ago, and of course I can't find them now.  Any advice would be
> appreciated:
> 
> I have a jonathan apple tree on M111 that I planted last spring.  
It had
> almost no roots, and didn't grow much (above the ground) last year. 
> Fortunately, we had lots of rain, and it ended the year looking
> healthy.  It is about 4.5' tall.  This winter, a deer (I assume) has
> nibbled the terminal buds off of most of the branches.  This 
surprised
> me, as I haven't had any deer damage on the crabs or other 
ornamentals. 
> (It will get a little fence come spring.)  The main leader and one 
of
> the higher branches retain their terminal buds.  How and when 
should I
> prune it?  We still have snow on the ground, but the sap is rising 
in
> the maples.  There is also some damage the the trunk, near the 
ground. 
> It looks like it was swiped with a shovel, but it more likely was 
chewed
> on my the neighbor's dog.  The cut goes about 1/3 around the trunk, 
and
> looks dried up.  Should I do anything other than wrap some screen 
around
> it to prevent further damage?
> 
> I also have a 2 year old canadice grape vine.  It is about 6' high, 
and
> is just one stem, which grew from near the ground last year.  (When 
I
> viciously removed all the other buds.)  I would like to keep it to 
one
> trunk, and encourage the top to spread out.  There are buds all 
along
> the stem - one for each or last year's leaves.  Should I remove 
these as
> they swell, or should I leave some leaf growth lower?  Is there 
anything
> else I ought to do?
> 
> Thanks,
> Ginda Fisher
> Eastern Mass, zone 6


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