0
About the Author:
Posted on 3:30 AM by Wanto and filed under
All Streamcorner's,
Fruit Trees
By Jeremiah Wright
More apples are grown in Great Britain than any other fruit. The reason of course is that the climate suits this fruit particularly. Apples can he grown to start the season in August, and to end the season in June by an eating variety like Easter Orange, which keeps perfectly in store. Thus with the exception of about six weeks one can be eating one's own apples all the year round.
The bush apple tree is the most popular type grown. Most gardeners like to have it on a stem 2-21 feet in length, and so, if to save money a one-year-old tree is bought (usually called a maiden), this is cut back to a point just above a bud, at an angle of 45 degrees, at the desired height.
All saws must be kept sharpened, and the teeth must be properly set. There are hand tooth-setting tools which can be bought for this purpose, while the edges of the teeth can be filed to keep them sharp. It always helps if a little oil is applied to the blade, so as to enable the saw to slide through the wood swiftly.
There are two main kinds of long-handled pruners. The first consists of a pair of Rolcut secateurs fixed to the end of a long, light, smooth pole, with a suitable wire operating one of the handles. A movable wooden handle is then fixed near the base of the pole, with the result that it is possible to cut off a shoot quite high up while the pruner is standing on terra firma. It is often used for pruning half- standard trees.
The second is the normal long-handled tree pruner with a hooklike end. A blade is fixed to one side of the curve of the hook by means of a bolt. Then at the tip of the wedge-shaped blade a wire runs down to a handle a foot away from. the bottom of a 6-foot-8foot even 10-foot pole.
At the same time the laterals growing on the main stem should be cut back to within an inch of their base, again to just above a bud. The following year such growths should be cut out altogether. If the pruning has been properly done, and the weather is kind, each of these three pruned-back branches should produce two more strong growths, and so at the beginning of the third year there should be at least six branches instead of three. Once again these should be well spaced around the tree.
The bush apple tree is the most popular type grown. Most gardeners like to have it on a stem 2-21 feet in length, and so, if to save money a one-year-old tree is bought (usually called a maiden), this is cut back to a point just above a bud, at an angle of 45 degrees, at the desired height.
All saws must be kept sharpened, and the teeth must be properly set. There are hand tooth-setting tools which can be bought for this purpose, while the edges of the teeth can be filed to keep them sharp. It always helps if a little oil is applied to the blade, so as to enable the saw to slide through the wood swiftly.
There are two main kinds of long-handled pruners. The first consists of a pair of Rolcut secateurs fixed to the end of a long, light, smooth pole, with a suitable wire operating one of the handles. A movable wooden handle is then fixed near the base of the pole, with the result that it is possible to cut off a shoot quite high up while the pruner is standing on terra firma. It is often used for pruning half- standard trees.
The second is the normal long-handled tree pruner with a hooklike end. A blade is fixed to one side of the curve of the hook by means of a bolt. Then at the tip of the wedge-shaped blade a wire runs down to a handle a foot away from. the bottom of a 6-foot-8foot even 10-foot pole.
At the same time the laterals growing on the main stem should be cut back to within an inch of their base, again to just above a bud. The following year such growths should be cut out altogether. If the pruning has been properly done, and the weather is kind, each of these three pruned-back branches should produce two more strong growths, and so at the beginning of the third year there should be at least six branches instead of three. Once again these should be well spaced around the tree.
About the Author:
Thinning is best done when the fruit trees in your garden are about one third grown, so that the remaining ones are 2 to 8 inches apart depending on the type.
Post a Comment