permaculture

[lbsaltzman@aol.com]

Seems to me this is about balance.  Prune when there is a valid reason to 
prune and don't prune when there is no reason.  Learn your trees and see what 
makes them prosper.  I failed to prune a particular plum tree for several 
years and production of plums declined precipitiously for that tree.  I 
wasn't doing my duty as a member of the plum guild and was punished with by 
not getting plums. As soon as begin some light pruning, the tree started 
producing again.  I know that California Indigenous people were tip pruning 
oaks for maximum acorn production for a long time.  




-----Original Message-----
From: Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com>
To: ibiblio list <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 10:25 am
Subject: Re: [permaculture] spindle cut orchards



Again, pardon the lag in picking up this thread.
n 6/2/07 8:17 PM, "Rich Blaha"  wrote:
> I guess I don't share your outrage at the practice....Fukuoka aside,
 most fruit trees do well with heavy pruning.
Agreed. Fruit trees of semi-dwarf and bigger size were bred for thousands of
ears to grow very vigorously, which means that left unpruned, branches will
et so long, thin, and poorly angled that they will break easily, so the
rees will get fungal diseases via the huge wounds, form thickets, and other
roblems. I think failing to prune because you believe it is "unnatural" and
herefore wrong is a little bit like releasing a dog or cat into the wild
ecause you feel domestication is slavery. The creature will suffer. They
re bred to have a relationship with people. We are misunderstanding at
est, and negligent at worst, if we don't maintain that relationship, and
he companion being will decline because of it.
And one of the little secrets of Fukuoka-style non-pruning is that most of
he fruit is inedible. It can't be reached on the too-tall trees, delaying
arvest until it falls to the ground. Somewhere in Fukuoka's books he says
hat most of his fruit goes to feed pigs or to make vinegar. Personally, I
ike to eat the fruit myself.
Toby
ttp://patternliteracy.com

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