North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Hélène Dessureault <interverbis@videotron.ca>]

I remember having read the following explanation in a pruning book
explaining an interesting Swiss method of pruning which consists of moving
the production of fruits closer to the ground. It is used to rejuvenate old
trees.
It was explained that :
The sap moving upward from the roots stimulates the tree to develop leaf
buds, the sap moving downward from the leaves stimulates the tree to develop
flower buds. When the branches are bent, more sap from the top flows into
the limbs proportionnally to the quantity of sap moving up from the roots.
This is how the tree can be influenced to form flower buds.
>From memory, this method was called Oeschberg.

Hélène, zone 3-4, where rain and snow flakes alternate.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Olenio" <tolenio@sentex.net>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 03, 2005 2:54 PM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Bending branches


>
> 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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