HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-05-05, Page 20PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2011.
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Home Garden
Continued from page 15
an act that can be done at any time
throughout the year, however, for
older trees it’s best to start early
according to Lewis Cardiff of Mait-
side Orchards in Brussels.
“The old saying is that a pruning
month is any month with ‘R’ in it,”
he said, stating that pruning really
refers to the older trees.
“The older trees require bigger
cuts and they need to be done while
the trees are dormant,” he said. “You
have to prune them before the sap
starts flowing.”
Jacqueline Knop, from Maitland
Manor and Nursery near Brussels
said that, along with pruning,
trimming is a priority in the early
warmer months.
“You want to trim out the
breakage, suckers and anything
unwanted,” she said. “Then you can
shape the growth if a plant is being
kept for aesthetic purposes.”
As for the how, Cardiff stated that
you can only have one leader.
“A leader is the primary part of the
tree that grows straight up,” he said.
“Sometimes there’s more than one
of them, but, for the best fruit and
healthiest tree, you can only have
one.”
Knop said that for pruning and
trimming, cuts are typically made in
the eye of the branch.
“If you’re looking to lengthen new
growth, cut at the eye of the branch,”
she said.
The tool to be used was something
that Knop stated wasn’t of huge
importance, provided it was a
manual tool.
“A chainsaw is too brutal,” she
said. “Every household should have
one pair of clean, sharp good pair of
pruning shears for taking care of
plants.”
Knop stated that there aren’t really
any typical mistakes people make in
the spring since plants are built to
last.
“Plants are pretty vigorous,” she
said. “People can’t do much to
unintentionally hurt them when
pruning, they’re fairly resilient.”
Cardiff said that the biggest threat
to trees, and fruit trees especially,
are voles, and that the real
concern is at the end of the warm
periods.
“A lot of people think it’s mice,
but the real damage is done by
voles,” he said. “You have to protect
the trees from them for the winter.”
To keep voles away, use tree
guards and keep the base and roots
of the tree clean.
“You have to make sure that the
guards are high enough too,” he
said. “If the snow gets too high, the
voles will be able to get above the
guards.”
Voles typically run across the
snow or underneath it from tree to
tree, damaging the roots of the trees
throughout the cold months.
As for planting new trees, Cardiff
stated that the most important two
things are letting it grow and placing
the trees in the right spots.
“Throughout the first two to three
years, just let the tree grow by taking
the blossoms off,” he said. “A tree
can’t grow fruit and grow at the
same time, so if you let it go to fruit,
it won’t grow as large.”
Placement is important because
trees have a hard time competing
with other growths according
to Cardiff.
“With fruit trees you need to
spread them out and not use much
sod or grass,” he said.
Keeping trees healthy is important
as well. Pruning helps, but other
threats, such as fungi need to be
considered as well.
“You have to fight the fungi and
insects,” Cardiff said. “And for that,
you need multiple sprays. No one
spray can do everything.”
Chainsaws too brutal for pruning, use shears, saws