3 SIMPLEST STEPS to PRUNING your FRUIT TREES!
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- Опубліковано 21 вер 2024
- This unique Pruning Course offers YOU over 20 exclusive videos & is packed full of tips, tricks & secrets that Stefan has learnt over his 25 years in the field!
Save time, frustration & money as this course has been designed to leave you feeling both confident & excited to take on YOUR next pruning season!
Here at Miracle Farms, we believe pruning should be safe, fun & rewarding!
So what are you waiting for? Start YOUR course today at pruningcourse.com
Still not convinced? Check out "The Quick & Dirty"! We want to offer YOU our in-depth beginners guide to pruning absolutely FREE! Packed with over 20 minutes of pruning fundamentals, "The Quick & Dirty" will provide you with a wealth of pruning know-how & have you eager to get out there & prune!
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Have trees already? NEW PRUNING COURSE. Start for free at pruningcourse.com
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I can't believe I watched that for free! ...and, WOW that pole saw looks light and expensive!
Thank you Sir
Welcome everyone. We are so excited to finally launch this wonderful course. From teaching this material for 10 years I know that PRUNING is a weak link for many people with fruit trees. Even if you know how to prune there will certainly be elements that will be new for you. Enjoy this first element of the Pruning Course as a FREE UA-cam video. You can benefit from the whole course and our one time only promotion at : pruningcourse.com
You are the best on the internet, except for Kat Timpf, and she should watch your channel.
That Pole pun was hilariousz!
XacbertdeBarbeira hahaha we try not to encourage him with the puns 🤦♂️
Excellent tips and techniques. Thank you Zack and Stefan for sharing your talents.
Coarsegold Guy thank you for the support we’re so glad you’re enjoying the content!
Here from you Maritime Gardening interview. Fantastic no nonsense information. Thank you.
Nice and easy. These are simple techniques that are doable for rookies.
I’m learning sooo much from your channel, Thank you!
He's very good at explaining how and the why you do things
Great thanks. I've learned to plant trees that work with and for each other and your instruction for pruning is what I've needed. Your distinctions are better than most anything I've read and seen. Your keen observation of animals and vegatation is a lost art and more valuable than gold and silver as we can't eat gold and silver!
I followed your advice and put fertilizer around my trees in the Spring. This was my best year ever for peaches! Thank you!
Oh and also thanks for the pole saw demonstration, I made my sister-in-law second guess her decision to buy a gas powered-pole saw 😀
Im amazed what all I learned in past 7 days, watching this mans videos. Lord Bless you.
Glad to hear it, lots to binge learn.
I've been really looking forward to your pruning course! I have been trying to learn for years, how to prune minimally and efficiently. I believe you have the best information on this. Thanks for doing this course! Thanks again also for the grapes and apples we got on our way by a few weeks ago, when you were cleaning out traps. Have a great time on France! Don't worry, the snow will still be here for you when you get back..
You're welcome. Thanks for the reminder sorta missing the snow since most areas we've visited have not had a frost yet!
I am so happy that I stumbled across your site some while ago! And now a pruning course as well. Thank you very much for everything you put out! Greetings from a big fan and inspired fruit tree enthusiast from Switzerland.
Fit im Obstbaumschnitt wow thank you for the awesome feedback! We’re both glad you’re enjoying the content so far!
These rules have made my pruning decisions a lot easier even though I have old apple trees (late 1800's right up to mid 1900's) which have been pruned all their lives. Because of their past pruning I don't have ONE main trunk to refer to like your "quick and dirty" technique requires but I have been able to use your rules to some degree to make my pruning decisions simpler. Thanks for a great video.
I have 15 to 20 year old apple trees 4 to be exact that have never been pruned/trimmed that were on our property in the middle of nowhere Appalachian Mountains and I can't find information on how or when to prune/trim them . My instinct or gut feeling tells me to hard cut them back in early October to 12 to 14 feet where I will have branches to work with they are about 24 to 28 feet . Any advice would be appreciated
@@1STGeneral I hope you found some good advice in the year since your comment and my coming across it. What did you do? How are your trees?
My understanding of pruning is that you have to do it year by year when you want to prune trees back that haven’t been pruned at all, not all in one year. A really hard prune could shock the tree too much and it could die. One third is the most you should take of any live branches, or 20%, not more.
I hope this is helpful to someone, even if it is late for you.
Thank you for your reply. As for the trees they are still overgrown and I will at some point consult a professional but living in the middle of nowhere Appalachian mountains it's difficult to get a professional to give a quote in person. My wife never liked the idea of hard trimming them and enjoyed them just as trees not necessarily fruit trees. That makes it even harder since she has gone home to be with our Lord and savior Jesus Christ
@@1STGeneral Ah, I am sorry about losing your wife. You might ask her to guide you through angelic means with the trees for their best health as well as feeding you with their wonderful produce.
I think you can allow them to be trees and still prune them back, starting as I did with just the suckers, the tiny branches that grow from the trunk, and giving yourself time to get a feel for how the process works. It helped me a ton to do that. I would look at the trees, prune a twig or two and stare T them again. After a while, I got to see how there might be too much weight on a branch, not enough air glowing etc, and nibbled away at those areas until I saw how the trees could achieve some symmetry.
It takes time and consulting a professional, or put the call out to a friend who has fruit trees to just start you off in the right direction. You’ll do fine if you go slowly and observe as you go.
So happy you are on you tube.👌👍
Excellent video. Thank you
Glad it helped
I really enjoy your videos, I am learning so much from you
Glad to help.
Sure wish I knew this when I lived out in the countryside and had fruit trees. Now stuck in a small town in a rental and no trees.
I really learn a lot from these videos especially enjoy the clear explainations of how and why things are done. .
Karen Berry wow thanks Karen for taking the time to share the positive feedback always a nice way to start the day :) maybe you’ll be able to return to the country side one day and be able to use the extra knowledge ;)
Best by far ive ever seen. I shared.
This was amazing! Can't wait to help my apple tree in my backyard be as fruitful and successful as ever!
Glad we were able to help out
That's great. Thank you very much for the help. I have a very old and big apple tree that probably hasn't been pruned in 10 years. I know nothing about pruning apple trees. But I would love to get the tree to start producing fruit again. I'm gonna get another apple tree as it's gonna need a friend. Lol. And I'm very appreciative of all the help I can get. God bless.
Very interesting to watch and learn… I’ve been pruning old school, I think…
thanks this helped so much going to get one of those long saws much love and happy eating!!
Thanks!
Sorry we are in the countryside of France teaching about the Permaculture Orchard at the moment and cell phone service is sporadic. We got bumped out of the chat. Add your comments and I'll try to get to them over the next few days. Thanks.
great information about LBL. its a good example of how the text book recommendations didnt work. you learned from experience. we need more guys creating recommendations based off experience. the text book recommendations are used to help create the super market apple. with my trees, i left a few lower branches in the hopes that the tree rats take those apples instead of going into my trees. when they climb in the trees they break fruiting spurs and branches. they knock off fruit and dont eat them. i have been moving them across the river but its a lot of work trapping them.
While in France, be certain to wear your yellow safety vest.
A good reminder for LBL, though a bit of a stretch, Lookout BeLow. Sound advice when pruning.
Great video, very well explained and logical !!
Great information very helpful, thank you much 🙏
Glad it was helpful!
i love your videos, i learn so much .. God bless
Received. Blessings back to you.
Thank you for your time, very helpful! 👍
Hey Stephan, excellent video.
Central leader to 5 feet then cut it out and go to open centre its popular in peach trees
awesome video i learned a lot thank you so much!
Excellent video
Thanks for the helpful and entertaining videos!
Great Job!!!
Hey man I really like how those lichens look on the one tree along the chimney, be blessed to the mustache
Thank you sooooo much🌳
Thanks. This is great.
Thank you
Brilliant.Subscribed.
Awesome, thank you!
Tree to high cut top and leave the small chimney branches with fruit buds they will grow into branchs remove the top
Now I'm strugling with what I have learned about pruning the trees as well. I know you don't grow peaches, but I have a question regarding them. Everybody removes the central leader from those trees after a while and makes a vase shape. The trees are producing a lot of suckers, so I think nobody asked them about this kind of idea, might be bad. Back to the question are you suggesting that keeping the central leader of the peach tree and train the branches to be a fruit tree and a vegetative giant works like magic?
If you leave it as a central leader and leave all the side branches until it fruits you will get a moderate size and earlier fruiting. Then you can begin to select side branches to remove. Bonus: you can eliminate suckers this way. Try it.
Hello Stefan... Over a year ago you were a guest on Greg Auton's (Maritime Gardening) podcast and Greg asked you a question I sent in about pruning Russet apple trees. At that time you admitted you couldn't give me any advice because you didn't quite know how to prune russets because they are tip-bearing apple trees. Last year I didn't prune my russets at all in the hope that fruit spurs would be created on the new tips that would grow that year. The previous year I had cut back (not "cut off") most of the water sprouts hoping fruit spurs would form along the remaining sprout's length. Yesterday I was working on my russet trees and I now have what look like fruit spurs growing along the length of those shortened sprouts that I cut back 2 years ago. I also have new growth on the end with buds on the tip. I'm just reporting to you because I thought you might find this info interesting especially if it matches your own experience this year as you go out to prune. I would appreciate any new info you may have in regards to this subject.
Cheers.
Eldon experimenting and observing is always the way to go. For pruning it really needs to be on a 3 year time frame as it takes 3 years for a new main branch to grow and begin to bear. Good job.
Can you do a video on how to plant a bare root tree?
I did on planting walnut trees. Fall 2019 if I remember correctly.
Hi Stephan, the course is a great idea ! Pruning seems quite mystical for beginners 😛
I have 2 questions :
- what about your « non pruning » orchard (ua-cam.com/video/5Yl2hAsDTNg/v-deo.html) ? You seemed enthusiastic in the video, is it still a way you advise ?
- Are your techniques adapted to different species (apple, pear, plum, quince, peach) ?
Many thanks 🙏
Romain F awesome questions Romain, he does touch on not pruning and gives advantages and disadvantages and when he believes both techniques are best used. He also touches/provides techniques for pruning apples, pears and plums along with provides tips/tricks that can be practiced in general 👍 hope this helps :)
You fo this do apple trees too? In Sweden we make the like vases with the maintrunk being quite low and then 3-4 branches gooing up from that but out on an angle leaving a vase shape.
Vase best for pears.
Good prunning technique. Can we apply this technique to mango, avocado & star apple too?
Yes you can! For the tropics and subtropics just make sure to keep a hat at the top of the chimney to prevent sunburn to the tree trunk.
When I was working on an apple orchard we always pruned out the water shoots as well, the branches that shot straight up sometimes as much as 6 ft. Are those specific to apple trees or do most fruit trees get those?
Most was raked into piles and chopped up with a tractor mower, but we kept some for tossing on the grill for some smoke flavor.
Waterspouts or suckers are just a symptom of improperly trained branch angles when the branches were young. I’m sure you remember how the branches that the suckers were on were above horizontal. Suckers are on any fruit tree with such branch angles.
@@StefanSobkowiak My 16-17 year old brain wasn't focused on that but it's likely. There were a ton that were around the base, but out priorities were suckers, blight, and broken branches. Thanks for the reply! Wasn't expecting one on an old thread!
Sorry, maybe I missed it, but do we let the chimney grow indefinitely or do you ever start cutting it back?
Once it’s cleaned once you won’t need to do it for a few years, unless you have a shortage of branches. Yes keep clearing but keep best angled vigorous new branches as replacements.
I leave the lower branches for the deer to browse on. Does it stimulate the tree ?
Not sure it’s been tested but herbivore saliva has a non negligible effect.
Great video and I love the pruning course. Can you elaborate on how early in the tree's life you start pruning/training? I grafted a lot of apple trees this spring on vigorous rootstocks - do I prune already this winter? Or should I wait until the tree is 2 or 3 years old?
I would wait until the new growth is your height and in the course I go in depth on training vs pruning. Much better to train when young instead of pruning. The tree will bear earlier as well.
@@StefanSobkowiak Thanks for your quick response! So to clarify - you don't train or prune until the tree is a couple of metres high? I've watched the training vs pruning but what does a "young" tree mean? 1 year, 3 years? :)
It’s more height than age, as high as you is a good time to start.
i like your videos,but i have been trimming fruit trees 20 years i would never tear off the branches? why do you? does not it risk tearing to bark and cambium risking bug and fungus infiltrating the tree?
When I attended a 5 day course on pruning with the best in the world we were all shocked to see the instructors tear off branches. It went against all we had learned in previous years. They said it simulates better how a small branch is removed either by ice or an animal. Reduces the chance of it regrowing, especially useful for suckers. I've been using it for 10 years + and it works great, fast, no damage and no bug or fungus (we do this in dormant pruning).
Minute 6:00 Great humor, na zdrowie.
As an Ohioan
Ill have to come back to the video in 6 months.
Its May, the snow on the ground is giving me terrible flashbacks 😂
Hahaha if we get snow in June I get terrible flashbacks.
I wish I could afford Sepp Holzer’s books. Many experienced gardeners like yourself, reference him often. Bill Mollison is good but his videos bore me to tears.
One more secret about apples. You can leave a newer branch longer by taking a glove and knocking off a few spurs
cool Mr. Stefan.........so the more branch we remove, the more the sun will shine down to the whole tree and it's easily for fruit to bear right............
Up to a point. Never remove more than 1/3 of a trees volume in a year.
@@StefanSobkowiak Mr. Stefan, with your experience, where do you think the air come inside a plant from.......is it from the tip of a plant or its branch, or it come from the side of a plant and its branch..........thank you..........I really need this information
Thanks for the awesome video! Can all of these techniques be applied to citrus trees as well? And related to that, when should non-deciduous fruit trees be pruned (I'm in zone 10)
I’;m not certain about the timing but I would suspect winter dry period when their growth slows down. Horizontal or below branches yes will work equally well.
How far south were you talking about when you were talking about the chimney? I live in South Carolina and we may have some snow during the year, but not much, just a light dusting mostly. We also get a decent amount of sun.
In your area I would say keep a cap but clear rest of the chimney. Good question.
Animals have a hard life, I try to treat them with respect, even feed them with bread made with grains gone stale during the year.
Birds tho for examples gets fed so much crap like bread thst they live a shorter life because of it.
We think they struggle, but Interfering with nature causes issues. let them do what they know best.
Good points but human civilization is a huge interference and maybe on occasion supplementation may be helpful and a little bread and food scraps have probably help many a animal survive through a lean time, tough winter, injury or illness. Most things aren't clear yes no, it's situational, pros and cons
I try to eat most animals so they want have a hard life
😂@@kenebarb5377
Witam i pozdrawiam z Polski
Wam tez.
What about cracked branches in the humid tropics and subtropics? Dont think there are any disease issues to worry about?
Anytime a branch is open in the green season there is a chance but I suspect tropical trees have a strong immune response to such events.
@@StefanSobkowiak thanks for your response. I've spent some time in the tropics with leaders in large scale restoration (1 of 20+ projects was post-Sri Lankan Tsunami restoration), and indigenous peoples there would use some kind of cover for any kind of wound. Some mixtures contained ingredients like honey, or desi cow dung (microbiome).
@@StefanSobkowiak Do you see the farm microbiome, including a given tree, as being great enough a factor that a properly healthy field-and-tree microbiome lowers the possibility of disease in the tree -- to the point of the risk being negligible? Interested to understand your view here. Thank you for your input and response.
I've heard there should be enough room for a bird to fly between the branches
Could you choose an underneath branch over the main branch it came from to train the branch down?
You could if it’s too large to bend.
looks like mid summer by the intro. lol
Is it possible to download the course for offline reference or do I absolutely have to follow the course online?
Maxime Laterreur this is along with subtitles is something we’re looking into, however for now it is all “online”. There are however plenty of things to interact with in the course that are basically the takeaways/summaries of each video. Easily taken down as notes and can be used later on 👍
@@ZaneMedia Thank you Zack!
Using the pole pruners for a long time can be rough on the neck and shoulders.
True my neck at 60 years hurt like hell
Thank you for this helpful video! We have apple trees in the overgrown backyard and one of the trees has a rather large exposed root and out of the root, 2 water sucker are growing, have been growing for a couple of years. Both root suckers are 6 or more feet high. When the tree goes dormant, can I just cut those without damaging the root? or do I need to cover the root with compost or mulch? Or what would be best? Thank you!
Yes you can just cut it. If you mound some soil around the base at least 15cm the sucker will root and next spring you can cut it off and have a new rootstock ready to graft for another apple tree.
Thank you so much! I love your videos! And we enjoyed and learned a lot from the Permaculture Orchard. Thanks for investing in us all!
Glad you are helping bring positive change to the planet.
Does the course cover pruning saplings that are just a few years old or are the principles the same? I've got some apples and pears I'm growing from seed and want to give them the best start possible.
Yes it does, actually show how not pruning them works.
Great video! My apple tree has already blossomed. Do I need to wait until it goes dormant again to prune it?
Preferably otherwise you will be removing a lot of energy from the tree.
@@StefanSobkowiak 10-4. I will save this video to my favorites so I can watch it again come winter. Thanks for the wealth of information.
I wasn't even sure 12" of growth in a year was possible this rule for branches, I suppose this selects for vigor?
I have one apple tree that wants to grow branches up. It is with my other trees with are standard size and planted 35 feet apart. Why does one tree want to grow up and the other send branches out?
There is variations in branching habitats by cultivar.
I wonder if these guidelines apply to citrus trees as well??
Yes except don’t clear a chimney right to the top, leave a cap. You have lots of sun. Try it.
Bonjour Stéfan, mes pommiers ont été acheté en pépinière et planté cet automne. Ils sont donc relativement petits (environ 5-6 pieds de haut). Est-ce que je peux les tailler cet hiver ou je devrais leur laisser un été complet avant de commencer la taille?
Laisse les une année car tu ne sais pas quelles racines ont étés coupés et quels branches vont être affaiblis par la coupe de racines.
@@StefanSobkowiak parfait merci.
Are the principles the same for grafted trees with multiple cultivars?
No you may want a few trunks or make each a solid branch
@@StefanSobkowiak Thank you!
Do you have a favorite brand of pole tree pruner?
I like a pole saw from Lee Valley tools.
I've found two beautiful apple trees that I'd like to grow. Don't know what cultivar they are , they were at the event place that I was attending. I took a couple of cuttings, but it's too late to graft in GA (I think), we already have fruit. Is there a way I could root the cuttings?
Worth trying. Rooting hormone and willow water then stick them. Low percentage however on most fruit trees.
Does the branch angle technique work on pear trees?
Yes just keep pear branches flat, not below horizontal.
Is this the technique for stonefruits as well as apple n pear?
Yes all respond similarly even nut trees.
I dont prune and i get heavy yields and large fruit, its all in the soil
So you can prune when?
He covers that in the course.
Basically dormant season.
Can you prune early spring?
Oh man those cuts in the intro were terrible 😂
Your videos are too much man.
Thank you.
Hi Stefan, what brand of pole saw do you use?
I don't know it has a brand, got it from Lee Valley in Ontario.
I would say don't let your chimneys get that tall! I wouldn't want to pick those apples.
I don’t know about him but where I’m at people don’t get any fruit from short trees. The only fruit available for people is fruit that is above the reach of deer. Deer can reach 10’ high by standing on their hind legs. If you’re lucky the opossums and raccoons will graciously allow you to eat what’s left.
What season is best for pruning the tree ?
Dormant season while no leaves.
What do you do with all the pruning material that is removed. Make wood chips and compost?
Explain it all in the course. Brushpiles, habitat, scions, rabbit food...
This is the most confusing yet intriguing pruning video, I have ever seen, haha!
Edit: Aha! Once you mention Holzer, I see where you're coming from. ;)
You're a 6 foot Pole. 🙂
So many ads are a bit disconcerting. I like your info, but for a beginner I think the verbiage could be honed to make it a little more understandable. Thank you. I truly enjoy your wisdom.
I think his explanations are actually relatively simple, but if you listen to it a second time, you'll start to get I think. As for ads, if you meant the pop-ups at the right side, that is simply the course outline for where to find more information, since this is actually the first section of the course.
@@bountywoodsfarm8594 Thank you! Good idea, I will try to listen to it again a little later.
Actually I would suggest you rewatch this video everytime you will be starting to prune again as a summary and reminder.
Kathleen Norton yes definitely can be a lot to take in but the more you go through it the more it starts to stick (speaking from a beginners point of view)
If it is that tall it’s difficult to harvest fruit!
Mr. Stefan..............what make the fruits different from seedling or grafting..........and why there are these two methods for us to choose......but I felt these two methods are the same thing and not making any difference.
It depends on the fruit species. Some fruit come back the same as the tree they came from. Some when grown from seed will be different and are better when grafted. What fruit are you talking about?
@@StefanSobkowiak I mean any fruit..........I don't have a specific type to tell you........I mean any fruit.........
Thank you so much for the information. However, the number of commercials shown in order to watch your video will keep me from subscribing, but great video otherwise!
Ok, thanks
Do you speak French Canadian?
Oui monsieur
I have to disagree on the lower limbs and prefer to put a cage in the bottom of the tree to keep the rodents in the rabbits away trim the tree up high enough so that you can get under with the tractor or lawn mower to maintain the area under the tree. Why encourage Critters to come around your trees in the first place
David unless you kill them there will be some around your trees. I do use guards where vole pressure is highest but where unprotected a couple of branches on each tree has saved my trees more than once.
Expensive pole saw - shitty cutting technique = more views.