North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["victoria l. caron" <vicaron@gis.net>]

Ginda,
Tip pruning or what the deer have done is non-productive. In the pruning
workshops they always say,  "if you don't want fruit, prune like the deer
do!" This damage can be very hard on the tree compared to large cut pruning
for framework. Without seeing the tree it's hard to say exactly what to do.
Depending on how high you want your first laterals for mowing purposes
(remember the limbs will start to droop once they are bearing) you may be
able to take off some of the lower limbs that have been damaged. Where your
tree is very young, you probably don't have much there anyway and you still
have time to build that all important framework. Good luck
.................vic

Ginda Fisher 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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