As the sun starts to shine and we experience the first day of spring, many of you are getting your yard tools out to start your spring chores. I thought I might touch on our number one core value of safety, and a few tips on how it can apply to you as a homeowner. Whether you have a shrub …
Bearing Fruit Part II Frequently we get calls from people who have recently purchased a home and on the property are existing fruit trees. The new homeowners are very excited about them and the prospect of growing and harvesting their own fruit is appealing. It sometimes proves to have been a deciding factor as to why they purchased the property; …
Bearing Fruit Temperatures are rising, daylight is lengthening and trees will soon begin to awaken from their winter slumber. As spring approaches, the trees are preparing to bloom again which means this is fruit tree pruning season! (Image Credit: Swansonsnursery.com) Its orchard ladders, loppers, hand pruners, and hand saw time for us here at Grace Tree Service. One of the …
I hope anyone who really wants to understand the importance of formative pruning was able to check out the pictures of the splitting Maple we posted on our web site. It is an excellent example of the poor structure that can develop from not performing formative pruning to a young tree. This is something we are seeing more frequently. As …
Last week we defined Formative Pruning as pruning cuts made to correct structural defects of young trees. While I am a proponent of not pruning a newly planted tree for the first few years of growth, formative pruning may be needed. For example, sometimes heading cuts were performed by the tree grower or nursery to stimulate a thicker crown. Corrective …
When explaining the reason to prune young trees to people, I often use the similarity to parenting children. Small but corrective adjustments to a child’s behavior as they grow will ensure they mature into productive members of society. The same principal applies to young trees. If small but corrective pruning is performed as the tree grows, the tree will develop …