North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[tanis cuff <tanistanis@hotmail.com>]

My 2 (or 3) cents:  Yes, summer-pruning, but never more than about 20% of the 
branches, or tree will try to replace some.  Think about training branches to 
more horizontal anywhere you can, especially if you can avoid some pruning.  
No fertilizer for at least twice the height of the tree in radius around it, 
and avoid unnecessary watering.

Asking an MM111 tree to stay as small as Ginda's asking is a stretch.  May be 
better to replace the tree, on a more dwarfing rootstock.

Would slices through the trunk's bark, just thin cuts (& not too deep nor all 
the way around) help to promote fruiting and also dwarfing?  And what's the 
best season for this, if it's a good idea?




> Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2008 19:06:13 -0500
> From: billg
> To: nafex
> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] pruning apple trees
>
> I can't give you any advice, Ginda, because I don't know enough. But I'm
> wondering what would happen if you cut the leader back to a horizontal
> branch (eliminating the leader, in other words).
>
> I have a young dwarf Asian pear (Starking Hardy Giant, which might or
> might not be the same as Olympic or Korean Giant) that seems to want to
> produce a leader straight up to the sky. It's branched well enough
> below, but the leader is really fast-growing. It's got a nice horizontal
> branch about the right height, so I've been wondering if cutting it
> there would stop it from getting much taller (though it might indeed
> produce some vertical sprouts).
>
> I don't know, so I'm anxious to see the answers to your question. I do
> know that summer pruning is supposed to keep trees small, since it
> lessens their vigor. To my mind, it's not as easy as it sounds, though.
> Still, in your case, if you do cut the tree back, you might want to do
> summer pruning to keep it under control after this.
>
> Oh, one more thing. Since it's just started fruiting, won't that help
> keep the vegetative vigor in check, at least a bit? I'd think that any
> energy going into producing fruit would not be available for vegetative
> growth. But that's just a guess. As I say, I'm just a newbie at this.
>
>
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