Hit the Dirt; A Pruning Primer

Hi there this is Claire Ackroyd and you're listening to the dirt. Spring is on its way and it's time to think seriously about pruning is the sort of first task that comes up in the spring and the one I get most questions asked about I think. In five minutes or even a whole multiple of five minute talks it's not possible to tell you enough about pruning to make you into expert Bruno's. So I shall attempt to sort of hit a few important do's and the it's about pruning because I think a lot of people have very wrong ideas about how to prune and what to prune and why to prune. And that's very important to start with to figure out what you want to achieve and why you are thinking about a plant with pruning tools. Certain amount of understanding of plant growth is needed and I could get into a half hour dissertation on a pickle dominance and stuff but if you just understand basically you may need to further research on this. Gardner some more questions. How a tree responds to being prudent. It's also important to understand what pruning cannot do. OK the absolutely first thing that pruning cannot do is to make a large

plant permanently smaller. You can make a big tree very short by cutting it down with a chainsaw. You know little bit of pruning can make something larger or smaller. But unless you've killed the tree its natural response to being cut back hard is to grow back even faster. And so one of the first rules of pruning is. Don't set yourself up to meet a lot of it. Put the plant in the space that is suitable for it all by the right plant for the right space. And don't be setting yourself up for great big problems by putting two large plants into two small spaces. I think most people do too much pruning for the wrong reasons. A little bit of laissez faire is probably better you can always cut it off later but you can't stick it back on again and so beware of over pruning. There are though legitimate reasons for pruning as initial shaping of a tree and training a good strong structure of a tree is very important and then maintaining health and to some extent

looks on the plant is an important reason for pruning. And then a certain number of products can be rejuvenated old tired shrubs particularly fruit trees can be rejuvenated by some judicious pruning now because this is a big subject I thought you ought to have at least one good book for reference so the book I like best is called an introduction to pruning and it's by Patrick Johns. It's an English book I think but it's available in this country it's a fairly new book is published by gallery books. Anybody could call w e or you or me if you want to get that reference again it's a good book it's a nice simple one. It doesn't do too much of this. Cut back to the third Bud business when you you know it's got some more general principles and less specific little rules. Now. Oh the other book that I've got here is called 100 tree myths This is not commonly available it's by a marvelous man called Alex shy girl who has been a chief forester of chief researcher for the Forest Service and things and he's now semi-retired and I went down to Boston to hear him talk and he has a right on the tree myths just for laughs

here I have to read you some of history myths. This is a man who has pioneered the business of understanding tree physiology and using information about tree physiology to guide the way people treat trees and this is a groundbreaking man so here's some of his myths are very good things like before planting prune living branches to balance crime with roots. That is a myth you shouldn't do that the tree needs all the branches it can get. Myth number 13 trees heal wounds. They don't really they grow sort of wood over them. It's not really a healing process. Myth number 34 clean cavities deep into sound wood. That's a myth if you dig into cavities of damaged trees you do more damage. There's this business of sealing off trees will develop a sort of sealing layer between damaged tissue and healthy tissue and digging into the damaged tissue is likely to disrupt their protective layer. So this is all very good and then you get to myth number 69

a shadow meter will tell you how much decays in a tree and the vitality of the tree. Well heavens I must have been telling a thousand people a year about YOU SHOULD I GO meter and how it's misused. I mean this guy has a major ego problem when he thinks that his little bits of information have become important tree myths. But he is nonetheless a very important man and I have learned a lot by reading his books and listening to him so some of what I tell you here comes straight from sure I go so next week I get to tell you a little bit of the do's and don'ts of pruning ornamental trees. And this is the dirt and I'll carry on with pruning next week.