North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>]

> I planted trees very closely (e.g. full-sized apricots, plums, peaches, and 
> pears at 2-3') and so I *really* need to summer prune!


All in a line?  That sounds like another technique for intense backyard 
orchard culture. I saw it online, and I was wishing I'd tried something 
like that (maybe not QUITE so close), rather than the 'four trees in one 
hole' method I tried.


> I also look at the spacing between the larger limbs.  At something like 2-3' 
> above a joint I like to see the limbs 1' apart, and higher up I like to see 
> the limbs 2-3' apart.


Could you rephrase that, Scott? I don't quite understand.



> I have been trying to transition to do more summer thinning -- when the 
> leaves are on I can see better where to thin (look for the too-dark interior) 
> and also there is less strong a flush of new growth than with winter thinning.
>   


Good point. But I have a problem (I don't know where you live) with 
summer pruning, because it's so very hot and dry here in the summer. I 
water, but that doesn't entirely make up for the climate. And since the 
trees are so stressed already, I really worry about summer pruning. If 
we have some periods of cool weather, I can do it then, but that doesn't 
happen much.

Well, that worries me, anyway.


> Your Toka plum sounds like my Howard Miracle plum.  It produces millions of 
> tiny shoots from everywhere.


I suspect that it's also planted where an outhouse was situated years 
ago. That probably doesn't help!

Thanks for the info, Scott.

Bill

--
Any time a creationist tries to tell you that "living fossils" disprove 
evolution, you know that he or she a) doesn't understand the theory of 
evolution at all, and b) hasn't honestly looked at the evidence they 
think they are presenting. They might as well get the word "Idiot" 
tattooed into their forehead. - PZ Myers