Healthy Regenerative Lifestyle
Basic Pruning Tips
“To prune or not to prune?” is the question we ask ourselves when our plants are not looking healthy or have become overgrown. This is the best time of year to prune, while your plants are in dormancy. In this issue, expert arborists explain their techniques on pruning for healthy plants.
David Proctor
We may not live on a farm, but we can grow where we live.
Pruning Dormant Plants
by David Proctor
February 28, 2019
Urban Farm Lifestyle Magazine Published Weekly
Pruning has some basic techniques that can be utilized by the novice pruner to know when and where to make those critical cuts.
Prune by using the four D’s to determine what to cut: dead, diseased, damaged, and dysfunctional.
Start with making sure that the tools you are using are sharp and clean. There are many inexpensive products that can be purchased for sharpening pruning shears and loppers. You want sharp tools to limit the crushing effect that you get when using one that is dull.
Pruning Basics
Start by removing dead and diseased limbs, and unwanted growth such as suckers and water sprouts. Suckers are the growth from the root system and water sprouts are shoots that grow rapidly upward such as you will see when trees are top cut.
Pruning Limbs
The “when” to prune is generally answered by when a plant is in dormancy. There are exceptions to pruning during dormancy depending on the plant and the outcome that you want, but now is the time to remove dead branches and shape the plants for spring.
Pruning helps plant vigor and keeps the plant in a healthy and attractive state for the growth of blooms and fruit. So sharpen your tools and give your plants that needed pre-spring cut and you will be rewarded with the fruit of your efforts. Pun intended.
Check It Out!
Dave Wilson Nursery 13:30
Published on Feb 9, 2011
Quick Tip
Bibliography:
http://www.avtreefarm.com/pdf/Fruit%20Tree%20Pruning%20Basics.pdf by Tom Del Hotal
http://cesonoma.ucanr.edu/files/27164.pdf
TEN BASICS OF WHEN AND HOW TO PRUNE FRUIT TREES by Paul Vossen
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