North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Spidra Webster <spidra@speakeasy.net>]

I've never seen a bareroot tree that branches that low. Every nursery, whether mail order or in-person, seems to have them branching at a tall height (I estimated so I may be off by some) unless they are dwarf citrus or something.

On Feb 2, 2010, at 12:15 PM, Roy Johnson wrote:

If you want a lower set of branches, you will need to cut the tree hard.  If you want the branching at 2-3 feet, cut the tree to that height.  Branches should push from the two year old wood at that level.----- but first:

Why did you buy the trees like that?  I'd let the nursery know you don't like them and ask if they would replace them with a better branch pattern specimen.   It would be worth it to you to return the morphodite trees.

that would be my first suggestion.

Call the nursery and ask for a replacement on your order.

They won't want to lose your business if they are an ethical outfit.

On Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 12:04 PM, Spidra Webster <spidra@speakeasy.net> wrote:

I ordered a couple bareroot trees this season. They came trained such that the first branch starts about 4.5 feet up from the ground. I'd like to prune that off in the hopes of training a tree that branches out only a foot or so from the ground. I've never done that before, though. Anything I need to know or be careful about?  The trees are already coming out of dormancy so I don't know what effect that would have...

Megan Lynch

http://meganlynch.bandcamp.com

Berkeley, CA

CRFG, NAFEX: I'm in USDA Zone 9b