North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lee Reich <garden@leereich.com>]

I believe I can answer this most easily with a short excerpt from my book , The Pruning Book:

. . . Marketing or, perhaps, an innate desire for nurturing has induced humans for centuries to cover wounds with dressings ranging from clay to manure to tar. Such dressings, for the most part, keep the wound moist, maintaining a hospitable environment for disease-causing microorganisms. (Exceptions exist: a particular dressing might be useful because it contains hormones to prevent resprouting, or insecticides to fend off borer attack on susceptible plants such as elm and pecan.) . . . A good pruning cut -- not a poultice -- allows a woody plant to seal off the wound and prevent spread of infection. Take care in how you cut, and appreciate the plant's natural ability to heal itself.

Lee Reich, PhD

garden@leereich.com 

Books by Lee Reich:

The Pruning Book

Weedless Gardening

Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden

A Northeast Gardener's Year

On Mar 21, 2007, at 6:16 PM, eric wrote:

Hello, this year I have to prune some large (5-6") branches out, and am wondering if anyone has experience with materials to protect the wound from fungus invasion. My normal diluted latex paint spray will likely not work well on such large wounds.

 

Thanks, Eric White, Zone 4 Vermont

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