Pruning

“ In pruning we have to keep two objects ever in view. In the first place we must prune in order to get rid of all dead wood, and weak, unripe and useless shoots, thus enabling the young healthy wood to take their place. And secondly we must prune so as to keep the plant in good shape and good health, by cutting back the strong and healthy wood we leave to a suitable length.
If the winter has been mild, we shall find many buds on the upper part of strong shoots of last year's growth, which are already bursting into leaf and even showing a flower bud. ”

“ Pruning, then, hastens the fruiting season in fruit trees, but at the same time it brings on premature age, and hence the operation should be performed with judgment, or else premature decay will be the consequence. In pruning of large trees care should be taken to cut out, as smoothly as possible, all awkward or crossing branches, so as to expose the whole of the fruiting limbs to light, warmth, and air. ”

“ Dwarf-rooted stocks can be bought of the nurserymen at a small cost; and the Standard stocks, the best for Tea roses, can be usually got in the neighbouring hedges.
Pruning. [12] —The object of pruning is to give increased vigour to the plant, and to keep it within bounds; to make, if possible, a new plant each year, a new top to the old roots. And to do this, severe pruning is absolutely necessary. The harder the pruning, the stronger the growth. Each variety should be pruned according to its growth. If very vigorous, they require less cutting back than those of moderate, or weakly growth. ”

“ The younger need summer pruning and pinching, to check their too great vigor, and to develop the laterals or spurs with their blossom buds; the older need winter pruning, for the double purpose of reducing the amount of fruit, and also to excite renewed vigor in the production of wood growth that shall take the place of that which has been removed. ”

“ A Common Mistake in Pruning.—We notice those trees need most pruning that have had most of it. Vigorous shoots in the crotches of apple trees, in most cases indicate injudicious pruning. Some people try to make their trees grow dish-shaped, and cut out the central limbs; but nature rebels against such abuse. A little attention to botany shows that every tree has its normal shape, and that all the pruner should attempt is to thin out weak and superfluous limbs, or shorten in long and slender ones. Several young orchards here show much feebleness resulting from abusive pruning. ”

“ Pruning is done very late, when the young shoots are already some centimeters long. The sap used up in the growth of the shoots cut off by the pruning shears is a great loss to the tree, which, being no longer able to supply ample nourishment to the lower buds of the branches, turns them into flower-buds. ”

“ Many an amateur gardener labors under the impression that all shrubs must be given an annual pruning. He doesn't know just how he got this impression, but—he has it. He looks his shrubs over, and sees no actual necessity for the use of the knife, but—pruning must be done, and he cuts here, and there, and everywhere, without any definite aim in view, simply because he feels that something of the kind is demanded of him. ”

“ The subsequent pruning—and the reader must at once distinguish between pruning, and training, or the way in which the vines are placed—will determine more than anything else the success of the undertaking. Grapes depend more upon proper pruning than any other fruit or vegetable in the garden. Two principles must be kept track of in this work. First principle: the annual crop is borne only on canes of the same year's growth, springing from wood of the previous season's growth. ”

“ In pruning his trees the inexperienced fruit grower often finds a difficulty in distinguishing the fruit buds from the leaf buds, and he may discover when too late that he has cut away all his leaf buds instead of those he should have pruned. ”

“ This is the first American work exclusively devoted to pruning. It differs from most other treatises on this subject in that the author takes particular pains to explain the principles of each operation in every detail. Specific advice is given on the pruning of the various kinds of fruits and ornamental trees, shrubs and hedges. Considerable space is devoted to the pruning and training of grapevines, both American and foreign. Every part of the subject is made so clear and plain that it can be readily understood by even the merest beginner. ”

“ The judicious pruner, being well aware of the upward tendency of young growth, and that this is increased by the crowded condition of the trees in the nursery square, seeks to overcome the evil by proper pruning. If the growth be altogether upward, with no side branches the first season, the stem will be slender, often so much so as to bend over with its own weight. ”

“ The time for pruning trees is obviously of great importance. Our present practice is to prune as soon after the crop as possible, and no doubt this follows the rule as regards all fruit tree culture, which is, that the trees, from the time of blossoming till up to the picking of the crop, should not be interfered with. But pruning at that time causes the tree to throw out much young wood which in the beginning of the monsoon is in an immature state, and, as Mr. Ward has pointed out (vide p. 389) , this succulent foliage is a good breeding ground for leaf disease. ”

“ If its pruning were done with an eye to the symmetry of the tree we would not object to its increase, but when we find it only consults its own convenience, and prunes off limbs that are loaded with fruit, we decidedly place it among the enemies of the fruit grower. ”

“ Neither is it true, as some claim, that pruning is a devitalizing process. On the contrary it is often stimulating and may actually increase [49] the vigor of a weak or declining tree. All practical experience teaches us that pruning is a reasonable, necessary, and advantageous process. True, it is often overdone, and improperly done. As in many other things, certain fundamental principles underlie and should govern practice. When these are known and observed, pruning becomes a more simple matter. ”

“ One reason for the importance of type of pruning is the characteristic habit of the species to form branches low on the trunk, so that low-headed and spreading tops result if trees are left unpruned.
It has long been accepted by most horticulturists that any kind of pruning of fruit trees tends to be a dwarfing process. Hence, pruned [Pg 23] trees would be smaller than similar unpruned trees. Pruning of young fruit trees, though reducing the size of the top and the number of growing points, tends to stimulate the growth of the remaining shoots. ”

“ The new growth can make foliage fast enough to develop the roots; still, I have not experimented carefully, and so cannot speak accurately. We see summer pruning often advocated on paper, but I have rarely met it in practice. If carefully done at the proper season, however, much can be accomplished by it in the way of making strong, stocky plants, capable of standing alone—plants full of lateral branches, like little trees, that will be loaded with fruit. ”

“ If, however, one clings to the old-fashioned Roses from economy or sentiment, they should be grown to their fullest possibilities by pruning, cultivation, and liberal mulching with coarse manure in the fall, and lawn clippings in the summer. Pruning should be done late in the winter or early in the spring before the sap begins to run. Remove all weak and straggly branches, cutting back the new growth to the first strong leaf-buds on the shoot. ”

“ So much judgment and experience does the operation call for that it is a truism to say that bad pruning is worse than none. The removal of weakly, sickly, overcrowded and gross infertile shoots is usually, however, a matter about which there can be few mistakes when once the habit of growth and the form and arrangement of the buds are known. Winter pruning is effected when the tree is comparatively at rest, and is therefore less liable to “bleeding” or outpouring of sap. ”

“ With this necessary, fundamental information as a basis of operations, the rational system of pruning that suggests itself is the maintenance of as large an extension at all times of straight, well-grown mature wood and the perfecting of that by the early and frequent removal of all limbs or branches that the form of the tree does not admit of carrying without overcrowding. ”

“ VI THE PRUNING OF THE APPLE-TREE
We have found that not all the buds grow. We also know that some of the spurs and shoots perish, not alone from accident but from defeat in the struggle to live. The chances of success are relatively few. The pruning process begins early in the life of the tree, and it continues ceaselessly until the end. ”

“ This, at an elevation of three thousand feet, they generally do in two years and a half. The stem is then topped, to prevent its higher growth and to produce a large supply of lateral shoots.
The system of pruning is the same as with all fruit trees; the old wood being kept down to induce fruit bearing shoots, whose number must be proportioned to the strength of the tree.
The whole success of the estate now depends upon constant cleaning, plentiful manuring and careful pruning, with a due regard to a frugal expenditure and care in the up-keep of buildings, etc., etc. ”

“ I planted a thousand of these trees in a new orchard, and took great pains with the pruning myself, for it was curious that in that land of fruit at the time no professional pruner could be found. I sought the advice of a market-gardener and plum-grower, who, in the early stage of their growth, gave me an object-lesson, cutting back the young shoots rather hard to induce them to throw out more at the point of incision, so as to produce eventually a fuller head ”

“ In all cases, the great art of pruning consists in making a clean sharp cut, so as to leave the bark in a healthy state to make an effort to cover over the wound, and in pruning sufficiently near a bud not to leave any dead wood.
The time for pruning is either early in spring, after all danger is over from frost, but before the sap has begun to move; or in winter, after the movement of the sap for the summer has ceased. Summer pruning is also necessary with some trees ”

“ The inexperienced look on pruning as a difficult operation in grape-growing. But once a few fundamentals are grasped, grape-pruning is not difficult. There is much less perplexity in pruning the grape than in pruning tree-fruits. Pruning follows accepted patterns in every grape region, and when the pattern is learned the difficulties are easily overcome. ”

“ The art of pruning properly is one that is acquired by considerable practice and observation. The first is necessary that the actual work may be well and cleanly done, and it is only by observing the manner and times of flowering of the different trees and shrubs which go to constitute a well-kept pleasure-ground that the proper time to prune can be thoroughly understood. ”

“ Even large standards are improved by summer pruning. Tree-pruners should be used where the shoots are out of hand-reach. Root pruning is also essential in strong soils where trees are too rank in growth and produce wood rather than fruit. Trees of all kinds may be root pruned with advantage in such soils, and also where the lower soil is bad. Open a [Pg 44] trench 20, 30 or 40 inches from the stem (according to size of tree) until the coarse roots are reached. One-third the distance from the stem that the trees are in height is a rule suggested by a recent writer. ”

“ In warm localities, with a broiling sun, the principal object in pruning should be to properly shelter the grapes. There is danger, or at least there are great disadvantages in pruning either too long or too short, and in leaving too many or too few spurs. In pruning too long, or leaving too many eyes, the shape of the vine is changed or even seriously injured. In leaving too many spurs, the vines may bear too many and too small grapes. To find the medium between these extremes is always the great object and study to which the grower should devote his attention. ”

“ Winter pruning commences as soon as the leaves fall. In former years from five to nine spurs were left in pruning and two or three eyes on each spur, but it has been found profitable and judicious to leave more spurs, so as to take the sap in the spring, and now from twelve to fifteen spurs with two or three eyes each are left every winter. Spring or summer pruning has only been practiced the last two seasons, and being found very profitable is now adopted by everybody. The vines are not pinched, but headed well back as soon as the grapes are well set. ”

“ Manuring and cultivating about the tree may give it all that it needs. Watch it till spring, and then if it fails to flower, it had better be condemned.
Thus we have seen that in pruning there are three different degrees, the cleaning, or light pruning; the pruning itself, and the more severe measure of cutting back. It is necessary to clean up the trees with the knife after the crop is in, every year, say in January or February, and if the operation is carried a little further, and the tree is really pruned every year, it will be found advantageous. ”

“ The summer pruning of established wall or espalier-rail trees consists chiefly in the timely displacing, shortening back, or rubbing off of the superfluous shoots, so that the winter pruning, in horizontal training, is little more than adjusting the leading shoots and thinning out the spurs, which should be kept close to the wall and allowed to retain but two or at most three buds. ”