fruit tree pruning

[peter genders]

Does anyone know of any fruit tree pruning classes in south wales or west of england thanks for your time. Peter.

 

[Russel]

Does anyone know of any fruit tree pruning classes in south wales or west of england thanks for your time. Peter.

Try the Woodland Trust, the BG of W or if you can travel to Hereford - Bulmers
the fwag organised one for us last year.


Not sure if still going:
Lucinda Liddell [email protected]
Membership & Events
Herefordshire
Red Lake House, Adleymoor, Craven Arms, SY7 0ES
T: 01547 530906

Russ

 

[Jimmy]

This book is good IMHO and has guidance on restorative pruning if you're taking control of some previously neglected trees.

http://www.rhsshop.co.uk/productdetails.aspx?id=10000102&itemno=9781840001532

 

[Hombre]

I would think that there is a considerable amount of advice regarding the pruning of various trees and shrubs etc. on the Internet to give you more than a single biased opinion to be going on with.

 

[tonybloke]

this is a good book for all aspects of pruning
http://www.amazon.co.uk/RHS-Pruning-Training-C-Brickell/dp/1405363126

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I like 'The Gardener's Guide to Pruning' by H Fraser. (and a big chainsaw )

 

[madasafish]

I just take my lopper and Felco and cut...

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Interestingly enough I was speaking to an old boy at the Welsh BKA convention last year - a bit of an apple tree guru, has done a lot to resurrect a lot of the old Welsh marches orchards.
I have a few old apple trees in my garden (probably pre date the first world war) which have been neglected for fifty years or so, i've been tentatively pruning them to try and get some kind of order but one just needs too much work and the apples are now of a mediocle quality. his advice was forget the little and often pruning approach, just hack it right back, the shock usually makes the tree regenerate itself and you'll get fresh growth in no time at all (thinking of trying that with two of mine this year

 

[Teemore]

A neighbour owns an orchard that had not been managed in any shape or form for 16 or 17 years. in the summer of 2011 a third party picked what fruit was in it and began tentative steps to bring the trees back into shape by pruning hard. A good amount of heavy wood was cut out of three trees (we presume this was a test...) and all the light shoots and branches were cut off. These trees were left 'bald'. No leaves at all in sight. They recovered and produced leaves and fruit in 2012. Obviously this was a satisfactory result as all the other trees in the orchard received the same treatment in 2012. Heavy pruning will encourage regrowth but it needs to be judicious pruning and definitley do not cut the tree off below the graft.
The unfortunate thing about that orchard is that the owner has rented out a cottage adjacent to it and has let the tenants run their goat in the orchard. I am sure the person who invested their time in pruning the orchard will not be pleased that the goat has now ring barked a lot of the apple trees!
An apple producer friend brought in two chaps to prune a 10 acre orchard towards the tail end of 2012: due to other commitments (full time non horticultural/farming job) he was unable to do the pruning himself. He now regrets this. I have grown up and lived in and around apple orchards and whilst by no means a pruning expert, i know what should and should not be done. My friend's orchard is one of the worst pruned I have ever seen. Branches were cut out that should have been left and the cuts were poorly made, leaving too much of a cut for disease to enter and no effort was made to ensure that the angle of the cuts shed water. It will be a number of years before these trees recover.