permaculture

["paul wheaton" <paul@richsoil.com>]

> Paul - are you ok with general pruning - and if so, how do you really
> differentiate it?

Yeah, I prune all the time.  Eliminating a crotch could double the
lifespan of a tree.  Eliminating 10% of the redundant wood will mean
that the tree will overall have about 5% more sugar and nutrients to
work with.  Eliminating dead wood reduces the places that disease can
enter the tree.

And I'm not bashful about thinning a forest either.

The trees I saw a few days ago were six to eight inches thick a foot
from the ground and three inches thick where they were topped.  These
trees would need intensive pruning every year.  And are being shaped
to something that nature did not intend.

The reasons for it sounded very productive.  It makes logical sense.
Safety.  Quick harvest.  Higher yield per acre.  All the numbers add
up.

It just seems .....  wrong.