cameray
New member
On a recent trip to Northern California along California 99 (called the Garden Highway in those parts) through miles and miles fruit-tree country north of Yuba, I could see that I was pruning my fruit trees wrong. I've got the basics right ? open in the center with a wine-glass shape, reducing the branches to six or 10 strong leaders, but not much else of the "professionally pruned trees" resembled what I had in my back yard.
I suppose farmers figured out that harvesting is easier and faster when you can reach the fruit without a ladder. And maintenance could be done with two feet firmly on the ground.
Most interesting though was the area where the tree trunk divides into the wine glass shape ? it was knee-high on those farms, not shoulder-height like my fruit trees. I've got way too much trunk (translation: unproductive) and not enough area for fruiting branches.
I was also surprised to see how severely topped those trees were. It makes sense after a bit of research: Since the growth hormone auxin causes a shoot or limb to elongate, topping encourages the auxin to move back down the limb to force more fruiting spurs and buds.
Lop off the tops and more fruiting spurs form, and that means more pruning is needed to open up the center to let the light in and get that classic wine glass shape.
You can imagine that one would get twice the fruit on these so-called trees than we are getting with our high-in-the sky pruning techniques.
Pruning fruit trees can be complicated, especially when you factor in the fussy apricots. The basics are to reduce the height and open up the center. For more advanced information about pruning fruit trees and a fruit tasting report, check out DaveWilson.com.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/fruit-224607-trees-pruning.html
I suppose farmers figured out that harvesting is easier and faster when you can reach the fruit without a ladder. And maintenance could be done with two feet firmly on the ground.
Most interesting though was the area where the tree trunk divides into the wine glass shape ? it was knee-high on those farms, not shoulder-height like my fruit trees. I've got way too much trunk (translation: unproductive) and not enough area for fruiting branches.
I was also surprised to see how severely topped those trees were. It makes sense after a bit of research: Since the growth hormone auxin causes a shoot or limb to elongate, topping encourages the auxin to move back down the limb to force more fruiting spurs and buds.
Lop off the tops and more fruiting spurs form, and that means more pruning is needed to open up the center to let the light in and get that classic wine glass shape.
You can imagine that one would get twice the fruit on these so-called trees than we are getting with our high-in-the sky pruning techniques.
Pruning fruit trees can be complicated, especially when you factor in the fussy apricots. The basics are to reduce the height and open up the center. For more advanced information about pruning fruit trees and a fruit tasting report, check out DaveWilson.com.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/fruit-224607-trees-pruning.html
