Smart Fruit Tree Training #2: Two and Three Year Old Trees, Remedial Training
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- Опубліковано 3 жов 2024
- Smart Tree Training, How to train two and three year old un-pruned fruit trees to modified central leader and delayed open center.
Tree Framework Study from 1930's can be downloadedhere. skillcult.com/f...
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Most bare root trees are two years old. I prefer to work with whips or maidens when training fruit trees, but if you have a tree that is two or three years old, there are some things you can do to backtrack in order to create balanced growth in the mature tree. Mostly it's the same as training a one year old fruit tree, but I like to shorten any existing branches way back, so that new main branches can catch up.
What kind of miserable human gives a thumbs down on this type of video? Awesome work SC. Thank you for your dedication and passion.
These are the MOST Helpful tutorials on pruning and training young fruit trees that I have EVER seen or heard. I wish I had found these after I grafted my first apple trees 3 years ago. Woops! It’s never too late to train. Thank you sooooo much- I feel like I owe you $$$ :)
I do have Patreon if you can't sleep at night :). I actually wouldn't have been able to keep doing this if it weren't for donations. Trying to change that this year.
Excellent advice Stephen, and delivered with great clarity and honesty. Thanks so much - my orchard and I thank you!!
I have been a huge fan of your information on axes. Now it happens again with fruit trees. Seems like you need to understand these things to the highest extent instead of just memorizing what other people say. I have it the same way. Best regards from countryside in Denmark
Thanks JS. The great majority of people are looking for ideas, groups and indentities to buy into and then tow the line. It's probably always been that way. I basically think that everything can be improved that that I can do it lol. Maybe not true, but having that attitude and little respect for authority has made me wise and broke. :D
Excellent as usual!!!!
:)
Absolutely some of the most informative videos out there. Thank you SO much! I have been experimenting with a combination of tying branches & pruning. I don’t know if you have any experience with this type of training but I would love to see some videos that speak to training trees by steering hormones etc. along with pruning. Keep up the videos there there’s ALWAYS more to learn & you deliver it a clear and concise manner. KBOG
Thanks Molasses. I haven't done much tying down. I'm usually going for a more upright form, but it happens a lot naturally from fruit load on some varieties and I just let it. I don't see a real difference in productivity in the long run. It might be more useful for bringing trees into bearing earlier.
When you shorten them up, to allow others to catch up you also get thicker limbs, so a win win.
I love this stuff! As you say: it’s an art...
Definitely. How are your seedlings? I swear sometimes seed I get from Europe has jet lag!
SkillCult the seedlings are doing great. All of them germinated well, all the open pollinated varieties and the three Grenadine x Rubaiyat crosses that you sent me. Only the Wickson seeds seem to have jet lag. So far only two of those came up. I’ll send you some pictures soon!
I love this-thank you! Have rewatched a lot of your training videos and am glad you mentioned here using a file and Kourik's advice in his fine book. I wonder about finding balance in co-dominance. That is, subordinating the scaffold branches SLIGHTLY to ensure a stronger, safer attachment to the main trunk. I think you may be doing this when you keep a scaffold branch more lateral so it remains a fruiting limb?
In trees that get giant, what takes them out is often a monster co-dominant leader or branch breaking from the trunk in high wind or heavy snow event. And I think this happens in smaller trees like apples when they are very old. You would really enjoy the structural pruning work of Dr. Ed Gilman, assuming you haven't found him yet. He researched and codified practices for structural pruning large and medium-sized trees that have transformed arborist training worldwide and have deeply influenced progressive nurserymen.
Gilman's book STRUCTURAL PRUNING is essential. But it is a textbook and expensive, though you can get a deal on used copies on Amazon and elsewhere. There is a wealth of free material on UA-cam, online, and at the University of Florida, where he taught, including a complete, free video course. Here are links to some of the material:
An Approach to Pruning You Won't Forget-
ua-cam.com/video/cHt3ym3F7Kc/v-deo.html&ab_channel=USUExtensionForestry
A Conversation with Ed Gilman on Pruning
ua-cam.com/video/KWQVUpciihw/v-deo.html&ab_channel=IndianaArboristAssociation
University of Florida's free series of 51 videos by Gilman on specific issues-this is a complete college course:
hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/instructional-videos.shtml
And a collection of his short papers:
hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/pruning.shtml
The Educated Climber has some more videos of him
www.educatedclimber.com/dr-ed-gilman-teaching-series/
Excellent structural pruning overview by SUNY Morrisville Professor Rebecca Hargrave for the New York State Urban Forestry Council:
ua-cam.com/video/JIdFddY32hM/v-deo.html&ab_channel=NYSUrbanForestryCouncil
Finally, he really simplified pruning terminology, now used by the International Society of Arboriculture. There are only three cuts: removal, reduction, and heading. How I wish fruit guys would adopt them! Instead they use a welter of terms, and each guy has to laboriously explain what he means by "thinning cut" or whatever.
Keep up the good work, Stephen!
I think the way to keep them from getting too big would be to have more of them. Maybe 5 or 6 instead of 4 . But if you grow them evenly, by starting them all at the same time, they should be pretty good sized relative to the trunk.
Great job again
A happy Barred Rock is eye candy to me. Thanks
She's almost died twice, that one. I think she still can't see right from a raccoon attack, then later she hurt her leg somehow. She's a survivor though.
Top content!
10* Great series.
:)
Great series of training videos! Do you have any issues with deer and your seedlings?
You have to fence deer out here. It's the only way.
Wish you would share what rootstock u are using on what. Thank you
Hey Steven love the serie. But would it be posdible to do some close up when you are knotching the tronc.
I love all you video on apple keep on the good work👍
There is a short clip at the end of the first video. May be I should do a short video on notching though. It doesn't have to be that specific though. Just make sure take off the bark and scrape the wood a little. About 1/3 around the circumference.
Cute chickens! 😆
Thanks for the awesome videos on tree pruning! I have a question. I planted some bare root apple trees last year and now I've got 4 or 5 primary scaffold branches all coming from about the same general location. Is it too late for me to train this using your method, or is it okay for me to prune away all but one branch, which would be the bottom primary branch? If so, then should I wait until the leaves form this spring to create the other primary scaffold branches?
It can work. If you have dormant vegetative buds and not much competition, as in if you remove most of them, you can often get them to grow out where you want them by a combination of notching and disbudding. it will vary by species and variety too though, so there are no guarantees. I think it's better to plan and execute this stuff before the buds break, not after. The longer you wait, the less advantage you have probably.
5 years later, did notching under the lower limb suppress the growth?
I didn't keep track. I need to do some formal experiments and not this pitter pat stuff. Maybe if I get to do the fruit tree training trials I want to do.
I am wondering what would I think about differently when training pears compared to apples, or do the same principles apply?
Very similar to apples, almost identical except for growth habit. Most pears want to go up. It may be harder to subdue the top with co-dominance, but it is fine as long as you prune regularly. Watch for narrow angled crotches and correct in early summer the first year so bark doesn't get trapped in the crotches. Then you can train the branches out more if they tend to grow too straight up. Just tie or prop them out ward a little. It doesn't really matter much how you do it. If you can get them to stay in the position you want for a year, they will tend to stay there. That could help make a little bit more open tree structure to let light and air in and prevent crowding. The Modified Central Leader is excellent for pears.
Should I let my 4 year old apple tree's root zone dry out between waterings? I use my 9 inch water meter and it always shows max moisture. Do apple trees like those conditions? It is growing very very slowly.
very few plants like to be soggy all the time, but very few like to dry all the way out either. Just keep it moist. I prefer occasional deep waterings for trees. It makes them more self sufficient≥
@@SkillCult Cool thanks.The soil seems loose enough but it takes FOREVER to dry.
So these trees are very close together are you planning on transplanting?
They stay there until they fruit. IF they are really good, I'll graft out copies elsewhere for further assessment and to make sure I don't lose them. If bad, they'll get pulled out. I don't really train them normally either. This is just because they are the right size and shape for an instructional video.
SkillCult I always forget about the grafting option. I’ve put my quince in a 4x4’ box because I want to take it to the next property. Just not settled yet. I’d love to start an orchard. You have to commit to a property to “put down roots.”
No,no you don’t. That’s exactly what you are teaching. If I plant and get something I like I take it along with me as cuttings. Good grief I can’t get my head around trees being portable. Thanks for the teaching.
Can you notch mature trees..? Or is that useless. I have a big red oak that was meant for the road and there are virtually no branches at the bottom, but I would love some. The tree is a mature tree, probably 10 years old or so.
At that age, probably not. more drastic measure like girdling might work, but might also just kill it. Also, just because it starts growing a branch, doesn't mean that branch will catch up to others and grow well.
@@SkillCult oh, that's kind of disappointing. I guess I had to pick a better tree to start with :-) Thanks!
Can you achieve the same type of results from pruning 1 and 2 year old whips in winter?
Yes, I prefer to train in late winter to early spring when more or less dormant, I just couldn't get to them in time. Early like this is not a problem, but I don't want to wait too late.
when i was young boy my father fed his chickens lettuce ..