Fruit trees need yearly, extensive pruning, much more pruning than other types of trees. If you fail to do this pruning, your tree quickly gets out of hand. This past winter I did some pretty extensive pruning on my apple, peach and pear trees. They really needed it. Branches had shot up so high, it was difficult to impossible to harvest some of the fruit. I also could not spray these hard to reach branches with kaolin clay protectant and organic fungicides, so the fruit above rotted and spread disease down to lower branches.
How to fruit trees respond to extensive pruning? Exuberantly! The two photos above are of my apple tree: it almost looks like the branches and main trunk are covered with green fur, the new sprouts are so dense. So, gotta' get back up on the ladder and remove these new, non-productive, growths. And, if you did your fruit tree pruning last winter, you do too!
Happy gardening!
I remember the picture of you up on the ladder. Be sure to get another. :)
ReplyDeleteIt just occured to me that your garden inhabitants are your babies and require the same amount of care.