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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Summer Pruning

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  • From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Summer Pruning
  • Date: Fri, 05 Oct 2007 10:24:59 -0500


One thing I am testing is planting Illinios everbearing in large root control pots in the ground. I have it in the ground for 2 1/2 years now at about 10 feet high with no pruning. The growth seem to be slowed, but I am not getting much fruit.


That's interesting. I don't know what the roots are like on a mulberry, but maybe I could just cut the shallower roots with a shovel to slow it down. Unfortunately, the fruit is the whole point, of course, so this might not be the best thing to do. Also, it's very hot and dry here in the summer, so I'd be hesitant to do much with the roots.

When it comes to wild mulberries, I can cut the trunk off completely and they just keep sprouting up. I believe the Illinois Everbearing Mulberry is grafted, so I wouldn't want to cut the trunk completely off, but I wonder if really, really heavy pruning every year - down to the stump, perhaps - wouldn't just cause it to sprout out in bush form? I wouldn't want to do that with most fruit trees, but it might suit the mulberry quite well. It's not as though the fruit would be too heavy or anything, and I think they bear on new growth.

I wouldn't want to do this with my plum trees, though.


I wish I had a solution. I also have an illinios everbearing that grows too
vigorously, it seems, for summer pruning to keep in check. ... I did figure
out that leaving a 1 to 1 1/2 stub (without buds) does seem to prevent as
rampant of growth, but I'm careful to watch for problems in leaving that much
wood to die back when I make pruning cuts.


You said you trimmed four times this summer. When you cut off the ends of the branches and they sprout out from there, where do you cut for the second pruning? Hmm,... my mulberry doesn't seem to be so bad with this (the little experience I've had), since it just sprouts from the end and keeps growing. But my plum quickly puts out multiple shoots that weigh too much for the branch to hold up.

But maybe you prune the tip the first time, then further back along the branch (i.e. taking out all the new sprouts) the second time, etc.? I was trying to do it the other way around - cutting the branch back quite a bit, then when it sprouted out, cutting the sprouts partially back. But these trees have been too vigorous for that to work very well.

Well, I'm pretty new at all of this, so I'm not too comfortable with what I'm doing in pruning at all. I suppose I'll learn.

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

--
He's like the Peanuts character Pigpen. Wherever he goes, he stirs up such a humongous mess, it can only be cleaned up by Halliburton. - Bill Maher, on George W. Bush




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