North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Thomas Olenio" <tolenio@sentex.net>]

Hello,

It is not stress, but you have tricked the tree into acting like an older  
tree.  Bending the branches effects hormone flow, in the same way that  
heavy mature branches sag and achieve the same effect.

You did not harm the tree.

Later,
Tom

On Sun, 3 Apr 2005 11:08:07 EDT, <JoanRRosenberg@aol.com> wrote:

> I had heard of this technique before, and I decided to try it on one of  
> my
> Montmorency cherries.  The branches did become more horizontal but the  
> tree
> vigor declined compared to the same type tree, same rootstock, same  
> purchase
> source at same time and planted 8 feet away.  They were identical when  
> planted,
> height, branching, etc.  After the branch bending on that summer, the  
> bent branch
> tree fell behind.  There is now a major difference in growth.  The bent
> branch tree is only 1 1/2 inch at the trunk, the untouched one is 2 1/2  
> at the
> trunk.  I concluded that bending branches on the cherry created tree  
> stress.  Now
> I don't bend branches, I just prune.  I have not tried this on apple or  
> pear,
> can't speak for those trees, and I did not try this on any other tree  
> after
> this episode.



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