Smart Spring Pruning

3/31/19 The first pruning job of the spring (determining the best time of year to prune a tree is a complex, to be detailed another time)...

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a massive pear tree. Super vigor, unfortunate overall shape. Decisions needed to be made. What cuts will make the fruit more accessible in the tangle of branches? Which cuts will allow more light into the lower branches? What branches touch electric lines and which will in the next 10 years? Some arborists might decide to prune off 30% of the tree this year and more in coming years to make this 35’ tree 15’ tall -because that is how some books say a pear tree should be pruned. It is too late for that (disease would set in and this pear would be more likely to blow over) and that's fine situation for THIS new homeowner. It is the only tree in the yard and beautiful. They will have ducks living under it, ready to eat the very-ripe-fallen-fruit too high to have been picked. Bees know no “too high”. The leaves will fall and make a nice garden mulch. The roots will build the soil life in a yard otherwise a monoculture of grass. So I inspect the tree, it has no major wounds, no troubling signs at the root flare or in the soil surrounding it. It has healthy buds and good growth on the stems that extended last year. I cut off dead wood, crossing branches, uninformed previous cuts. Then I cut to answer the questions I posed to start this blog post. Ideally I’d remove 10% of the canopy each year for the next 3 years and expect it would add 10 more good years to a tree that I predict will live another 30. 

#timingpruning #fruitpruning