North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Elizabeth Hilborn <ehilborn@mebtel.net>]

Thanks Lee,
All of my apples are on dwarfing stock but one, maybe that is why I have 
enjoyed some success with the method.
Betsy

On 3/30/2015 2:05 PM, Lee Reich wrote:
> My experience in WI, MD, and NY is that the Lorette method does not work 
> reliably.  I either got dead stubs or vigorous regrowth, rarely spurs. 
> Horizontal training does work. Lorette pruning was developed in northern 
> Europe, which has, or had, a much more equable and consistent temperatures 
> and rainfall than most of continental U.S. as well as quite different 
> photoperiod. (New York City, for instance, is about the same latitude as 
> Madrid.
>
> All this depends, to a large extent, on the tree. Dwarf rootstocks increase 
> the likelihood of spurs developing with any treatment, as do certain 
> varieties. Asian pears are especially prone to making fruit spurs. Put a 
> precocious variety on one of those dwarfing rootstocks and the plants can't 
> help but make spurs.
>
> Lee Reich, PhD
> Come visit my farmden at  http://www.leereich.com/blog 
> <http://www.leereich.com/blog>
> http://leereich.com/ <http://leereich.com/>
>
> Books by Lee Reich:
> A Northeast Gardener's Year
> The Pruning Book
> Weedless Gardening
> Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden
> Landscaping with Fruit
> Grow Fruit Naturally
>
> > On Mar 29, 2015, at 1:58 PM, Elizabeth Hilborn <ehilborn@mebtel.net> wrote:
> >
> > Hi folks,
> >
> > I have a specific question about training and pruning pomes for fruit 
> > production.
> >
> > I recently attended a pruning workshop where the instructor told us that the 
> > way to achieve maximum fruit production was to train laterals to the 
> > horizontal.
> >
> > However,  I have been practicing the Lorette method described by Louis 
> > Lorette and published in English in the early 1920s in this country. I have 
> > been able to produce fruiting spurs on my laterals by this method, but it is 
> > just my observation that the technique may be preferred, I have no real 
> > 'control' trees with horizontal training alone, so do not know relative 
> > success rates.
> >
> > Here is a description of Lorette method from : 
> > http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_h/h-312.html
> >
> > /"Typically, summer pruning is a selective training procedure aimed at 
> > weakening vegetative growth while promoting flower initiation. It consists of 
> > cutting current season's shoots back to three to five mature leaves after they 
> > have grown about a foot, and about the diameter of a pencil, and have started to 
> > become woody at the base. Flowering spurs often develop at pruning cut sites as a 
> > result of weakening the vegetative growth, but flowering is also increased 
> > throughout the tree because of better light penetration./
> >
> > /An alternative procedure, developed in France by L. Lorette about 55 years ago, 
> > is to cut the shoot about 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch above its base, leaving a short 
> > stub. This ensures regrowth will come from the less well developed buds near the 
> > shoot base. Growth from these buds is weaker and more readily transformed into 
> > fruiting wood. The Lorette method is preferable to leaving longer stubs, which not 
> > only produce more regrowth, but are usually stiffened in an upright position as a 
> > result of the pruning/."
> >
> > Does anyone know if horizontal training alone, the Lorette approach alone, or 
> > a combination of methods produce the most fruit?
> >
> > Thank you for any information you can provide.
> >
> > Betsy Hilborn
> >
> > 7a, NC