Tree Pruning

I went to a tree pruning workshop given by Lora Hall at the Highland Park Community Garden, Millagro Allegro. It was perfect timing because the little fruit trees that I planted above the house needed some attention. These are the trees that I planted as bare-roots a couple years ago. You aren't supposed to let them fruit until the third year so they can grow strong roots. You can see them last spring here. I'm hoping that with a little pruning they will be in good shape to have their first good season. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Before:


After:


Lora told us to thin out the interior and to remove any branches that were crossed or growing in the same plane. She also told us that heading off a branch would encourage it to branch and grow stronger so that it could support more fruit. We're also supposed to keep an eye on how tall the tree gets. No towering orchards for the back yard. I'm going to try to keep these small enough so that I can reach the fruit by hand.


Before:


After:

This one is the nectarine (?) that had all the flowers last year.

It was hard to cut off so much, but I'll have faith that it's for the good of the tree. I keep having to relearn my lesson to be patient. I'll wait to see how many blooms they get. I'm only supposed to leave a couple per branch so the fruit will get bigger.