Would I miss a pruning session with Bob Tritten? Not likely! I was all prepared to pay $25 to attend his last appearance at the Tollgate Farm orchard – so it was a treat not to have to make the drive and only pay $5 thanks to the generosity of our local Conservation District in bringing him to Jennie’s farm.
Getting set up
Braving the early morning chill and temperatures in the mid-thirties, I joined an eager crowd of about thirty five, including nine Master Gardeners, watching this master arborist working magic with his clippers. The only casualty was the MG camera whose batteries didn’t like the frosty weather – but this time I brought spares. Sue’s camcorder also suffered the same fate.
Every time I visit Jennie, I always make a mental note of how good her fruit trees look!
The perfect peach
We were all a little dismayed when after a few minutes of Bob’s careful pruning, about 30% of what appeared to the backyard novice as a perfect peach tree – was lying on the ground! And Bob made such drastic surgery all appear necessary and quite appropriate with his easy to follow commentary.
The perfect peach”after”
I last saw Bob in action about 13 years ago, climbing trees with a chainsaw and his other tools hanging from a belt – renovating an ancient orchard in Monroe. For those who don’t know, Bob is the Genesee County Extension Fruit Tree Specialist among other things. This means that he trains commercial orchard owners and workers how to prune fruit trees for maximum health and productivity. You can see his handiwork at Applewood Orchard just over the county line.
The lesson began with a brief explanation of the tools of the trade – from an array of familiar Felco and Corona hand clippers, diamond sharpening stones, venerable wooden handled hand loppers, from the high end to the cheapies you lend your neighbor, pole pruners, wicked looking hand saws, a trusty gas chainsaw – to artful branch spreaders, ropes and a few good books on backyard fruit growing.
The tools of the trade
He is still recommending one of my favorites, Stella Otto’s” The Backyard Orchardist”. The ergonomic Felco #8 clippers and the 18″ Turbo pruning saw are on my short list as must haves. A. M Leonard has them in their catalog along with everything you could ever need for any gardening or growing project. www.aml.com
He asked if we knew the differences between pome fruit – apples, pears, etc all having small seeds – and stone fruit such as peaches, plums, apricots, etc. For those of you who have forgotten, please dig out your green book and look under Fruit Trees! Jennie will cover these in a later follow-up article. He stressed the need to be familiar with these two types of fruit trees as each requires special pruning, which he would address when we went through the orchard.
For demonstration purposes, he showed how to break in a new tree with three rapid cuts on a poor unsuspecting apple whip. His technique was simple and easy to follow.
Sizing the young tree
In the case of the apple, he first sized the tree to hip height before making the radical cuts, which he said was essential for good future branching. He showed the three (3) alternating buds at differing heights he wanted to keep which would form the future scaffolding branches of the growing tree. He also demonstrated how to maintain and encourage the Xmas tree shape that is desirable in pome trees.
Apple whip showing a three branch scaffold
Next were the peach and apricot which require a more open, heart shaped structure.
Desired open heart shape for a peach
He achieved this desirable shape by removing the heart and just leaving three (3) opposing lateral branches at about a 70% angle to the trunk to form the scaffold. Bob likes to be able to throw a football through the center of the tree!
Shaping a young peach tree
Before moving out into the field, he showed how to train or renovate a slightly older tree – by using short wood spacers, clothes pins, weights or even a rope tethered to a stake – as a means of improving the angle of the fruit bearing branch to the trunk. These aids remain in place or until the tree attains the desires shape.
Branch spacers and spreaders
As we followed him into the orchard, he gave a fast analysis of the tree ahead, and what he would do to improve things. In spite of an artificial shoulder and being well into his sixties, Bob is still remarkably agile in the air on his sturdy three legged orchard ladder.
Shaping the tree from above
In no time he was lopping out watersprouts and ingrowing or crossing branches, as he brought the shape of the tree into a better form for maximum fruit production.
Blossoms do become fruit!
He stressed that you almost have to plan two (2) years in advance to get a structure that will yield blossoms that develop into fruit the following year.
I plan to have another article on some more of the specifics he covered in his lengthy presentation. Jennie will also post a more in depth one on the whys and wherefores of pruning.
Sue is currently editing down about 2 1/2 hours of video tape into shorter YouTube videos, that she will post as instructional aids that will be available for download by our blog readers.
Our thanks go to the Monroe County Conservation District and staffers, Catherine Acerboni and Bob Potter, for arranging the session – and to fellow Master Gardener and former Monroe County Horticulturalist, Jennie Stanger for graciously opening her farm for the event, and letting her orchard become the subject of the lesson.
Frank.
