Pruning 1-2 year old trees and dwarf trees. CRFG Pruning Workshop Jan. 14, 2017

Remarks: (1) Trees are symmetrical and balanced. ??? (2) Sap goes up, sugar comes down. (3) Trees are like people. (4) Trees are not like people. (5) “Crotch pruning” vs “Branch pruning”. (6) Consider the timing of your pruning. (A) Pruning young trees. (B) Pruning dwarf trees.

Remarks: (1) Trees are symmetrical and balanced. Understanding the structure and function of tree roots and crowns can help people become better gardeners. Mature trees: 5% leaves, 15% branches and twigs, 60% trunk, 15% larger transport roots, 5% fine feeder roots. Leaf area index (square area of leaf surface, both sides, per unit area of tree root zone): 12 Root area index (square units of root surface per unit area of tree root zone): 15 - 28 For most trees in normal soil, the 99% of the roots are in the top 3 ft of soil. Trees need water and oxygen !!!

(2) Sap goes up, sugar comes down. Sap, water, nitrogen, nutrients go up the tree on the inside: sap-wood or Xylem Sugar and hormones come down on the outside: Pholem

(3) Trees are like people, we can talk about Juvenility and Maturity. Mature wood is reproductive, growing fruit, seeds, nuts, mature leaves, …… Juvenile wood is not, and not to be confused with recently grown (vegetative) wood.

(4) Trees are not like people (A) Juvenile wood and Mature wood are both exhibited within a tree. The base of the tree and the roots retain juvenility while the top of the tree becomes more mature.

(B) K. Gallagher “It is easy to see how an infant child relates to the parent. With respect to overall pattern, it is essentially the adult in miniature: 2 arms, 10 fingers, 10 toes, one nose, 2 ears, one heart. The same is not true when one compares a newly emerged plant seedling to the adult. The adult plant body plan is often a highly elaborated structure with multiple lateral appendages and organs. This is because much of the adult plant body is patterned post-embryonically through the action of coordinated groups of stem cells, genes, and stimulations.” The Golden Delicious apple has about 57,000 genes, a human about 30,000 genes. The primary source of the coordinated undifferentiated stem cells is primarily found in the shoot and root apices: the shoot and root apical meristems (SAM and RAM, respectively) – mitotically competent and relatively undifferentiated cells (mitosis is a part of the cell cycle when replicated chromosomes are separated into two nuclei) that divide throughout the life of the plant to produce new cells, tissues, or organs.

(5) Consider pruning techniques. (A) Crotch pruning. (B) Branch pruning. 10 – 12 inches (C) “Drop crotch pruning” vs “Branch pruning”. “No branch pruning” vs every branch every year

(6) Consider the timing of your pruning. (A) Young trees vs old trees. Vegetative vs fruiting Don’t cut excess fruiting wood !!! (B) Deciduous trees vs evergreens. (C) The dormant period. (D) Disease susceptibility. Cherries, Plums, Apricots, and bacterial canker susceptible trees are pruned in early spring or mid summer to avoid infection.

(7) Pruning young trees (one and two year old trees) YouTube video “Pruning Young Trees:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3xkaNPdbPk&t=119s

(8) Pruning dwarf trees Think espalier.

Good Fruit Grower April 1, 2016 October 2016