Talking about pruning and trees with Brian Brinkerhoff

My talk on pruning and trees with Brian Brinkerhoff of Western Life Radio at the 24:30 mark.

http://www.backcountrynetwork.com/Download/WesternLifeRadio59-1-26-14.mp3

Pruning Safety

Self inflicted damage from fruit tree pruning
in 2012.

Most of the pruning saws now sold are the Japanese or "razor" style. These cut quick and easy and save a lot of time and effort when pruning. Unfortunately they cut human flesh even more easily. Here are some safety tips for pruning with a saw around the home.

1. Wear gloves. Some pros choose not to wear them when climbing because they need a reliable grip, but a home owner isn't going to climb that aggressively.
2. Always be aware of what your saw is cutting into and anything else that is near its edge. This seems like a no-brainer, but it is easy to lose track of it when you get moving.
3. Be more careful when you wear gloves. Gloves can save cut down on damage if you slip, but a sharp saw will still go through gloves and sloppy pruning will increase the damage.
4. Make sure you have good footing. Whether you are on the ground, on a ladder, or on a branch, if you slip you are in danger of a nasty cut.

Be safe and remember that pruning can be good for your tree and fun, but only if you are not hurt in the process.

Manana!

Permaculture or just lazy?

These fruit tree trimmings are going to a
friend's house to be used for heating.

I know people who drop their garbage where ever they are. It doesn't matter if it is on the road, in the yard, or in their homes, they just drop it. Oddly enough, I have friends who leave garbage in their trees. Sick branches ooze plant puss, dead limbs block light and fresh air, and rubbing branches cause open wounds begging for disease and insects to come and partake.

All in all, it is as disgusting as six months of leftovers sitting on the floor.

The funny thing is, those branches could be doing something productive for tree owners if they just had the heart to cut them off. Large and medium limbs make good fuel for the stove or BBQ and are useable for building anything from fences to furniture. Smaller branches or larger pieces ground down make great mulch and all sizes of wood are game for making crafts.

Look around, turn your waste into a resource, and give the world a little more life.

Fruit Pruning Class in Provo

All photos courtesy of Troy Nuttall.

The class was a great success! I hope you join us for the next one.

Utah Sustainable Gardening and Elizabeth Ellsworth Stika are pleased to present a fruit tree pruning workshop in Provo on March 9th 2013.

Subjects covered will be:

• Where and how to make a good cut.
• How to shape a fruit tree.
• What to do to make you fruit trees more productive.

Class will be held at 12:00 on Saturday March 9th. At 365 N. 900 W. Provo, Ut. The hostess has generously offered to pay for the workshop. If you are able, please bring $20.00 to help defray the cost of the workshop. A light lunch will be provided.

Please RSVP at: 
https://www.facebook.com/events/349012245216856/
or
utahsustainablegardening@gmail.com

Pruning Lavender

Lavender before pruning.

Usually I prune my lavender shortly after it is done blooming. It is a great time to do it since it keeps the lavender looking prim and maintained. But really it doesn't need pruning until just before it starts its summer growth.

Lavender after pruning.

This last year things have been so busy that I did not get the prunning done until shortly before Christmas. But as things slowed down I grabbed the hand pruners and headed out to the back flower bed.

The main point of pruning lavender is to take off the old flower heads. As long as you do that you will be good. If you want to do more to guide the shape, snip off and inch or two of the leaves. Just remember, don't cut back so fare that there aren't living leaves left on a branch. Lavender is one of the shrubs that needs those leaves to regenerate growth. Cutting away all the leaves will lead to dead twigs.

Making a cut.

Most people use hedging shears to get their lavender pruned. Shears do a great job, and get it done much quicker that hand pruners. I like to do it the slow way because it creates more texture. And I have gotten fed up with the smooth meatball look that is so common today.

Remember, the leafy cuttings can be used either fresh or dry to create a relaxed mood or encourage sleep. 

The trimmings can be composted or used

to help relaxation.

I Dance with the Trees

Photos courtesy of Troy Nuttall

Yesterday, I finished a few last minute pruning jobs. As I did so, I thought of some of the tree trimmers I've worked with in the past. Each of those climbers have their own style and rhythm. 

Ryan roots himself to the ground so that no matter how high up he is, it looks like he is strolling through a spring day. Kevin hot dogs around the trees on his ropes, swinging from branch to branch like Tarzan. If he still doesn't have his adrenaline rush he takes his glasses off and lowers himself out of the tree upside down, like a spider. Max takes a calm, long term approach. I've seen him ride a tree to the ground after the roots gave out and walk away with nothing more than a calm smile.

Me? I'm not in the same athletic class as my friends, so my style depends a great deal on how my limbs connect with the tree's. Foot work is vital to me. Often times my feet point in opposite directions. They balance on bumps that don't exist and get wedged into angles that must be too tight for a guy wearing a wide shoe.

My arms are not left out. They move intricately around and through branches to hold myself in the tree, but still let me get a clean cut. My wife compares it to dancing, though I can't quite see the comparison. Each step is a tentative shifting affair, relying on an individual branch to tell me if it can handle what I am asking it to do.

There is a distinct rhythm as well. Not one that can be defined as something so simple as a three-quarter time or a standard category like a waltz. No, the rhythms I move to are deeply connected to the trees and to the earth itself. Deep, long, intricate rhythms.

Yes, I dance with the trees.

Winter Sucker Removal

Photos courtesy of Troy Nuttal.

Winter is a great time to take care of those tree chores that don't get done in the summer. A perfect example of this is clearing out fruit tree suckers. Suckers are shoots that come out from the roots of the tree. The best time to take out suckers is as they appear in the summer. Just rip them off away from the tree at an angle and they will often come right out.


That is, they will if you get them while they are still young. If they have time to age and harden off they must be cut out. Once you start cutting, it gets harder and harder to just pull them off.

As a gardening tradesman, I often don't get to fix a problem until it is too late for the best solution. The suckers in these photos are being removed at the same time I did my annual fruit tree pruning in the winter. 


Suckering on this peach tree was worse than usual this year because the tree owner had his mowing crew clear away the weeds and place mulch around the tree base. In the process the roots were damaged and encouraged the growth of more suckers.

Removing the suckers now is just a matter of cutting them down at soil level and removing the cuttings. If the suckering continues heavily for a few years I will have to carefully dig down to where the root is and cut the sucker stump off there. Sometimes a stump gets so big and woody that I have to remove it to cut down on future work.


Some fruit trees will go many years without having suckers removed. In these cases the suckers get large and compete for sun and other resources with the fruit producing parts of the tree. The competition cuts down on quality and quantity of fruit produced, so I try to avoid it.

Good luck with your winter garden tasks! And remember, spring planting is just around the corner.

A Small Green Job

As a gardener I have to provide a wide variety of services to keep myself busy most of the year. The fall can be problematic because things aren't growing, nurseries are often out of plants, deciduous trees are at a risky time to prune, and most clients don't realize what a great time it is to design.

Fortunately, lowering the ears on an Austrian pine is not a plant health taboo in the autumn.

Before.

After.

The trimmings filling the back of The War Machine.

The trimmings at the green waste disposal for recycling.

This job was small, but I had great fun after all the boring mowing I did this summer!

Spooky Halloween Tree

This looks good for the scary season, but 
will be bad through the life of the tree.

I appreciate the macabre spirit of Halloween as much as everyone, but making a tree into a permanent horror is simply too much.


For the rest of its life the tree will have problems with:

• Bad form caused by quick growing limbs.
• Branches constantly rubbing together and leaving open wounds.
• Rot and disease entering into the trunk and main limbs.
• A drastic increase in limbs falling. Some of them might be quite heavy.

I understand why the homeowner would think this is a good idea, the tree really is too big for the location. A better solution would have been to remove the tree and replace it with a smaller tree.

The worst horror of this botched job is that the pruner thinks he did great work. I am disappointed that someone who professes to love their job refuses to put the study into understanding the basic do's and don'ts.

I strongly recommend that if your friends get work like this, don't go to them for recommendations on a tree service.

I bid you peace and hope that your Halloween horrors last only through the season!

Permaculture Pruning: Lesson Three

'Momma Red' proves that when the books tell you
a red delicious is supposed to make a good central
leader the tree may not agree. You have to be
willing to accept what the tree gives you.

The primary purpose of planting a fruit tree is to get fruit. This sounds simple, but most of the fruit trees I pass on the road are neglected, almost as a ritual. One of the biggest areas of neglect is in pruning.

Either people don't prune at all, prune once every five to ten years, or prune with reckless abandon with no idea of what they are doing. Of these three methods, I would rather see no pruning because when I'm called in to fix the tree, I can turn to what nature provided rather than what man mangled.

The decision of how you prune starts when you decide to buy a fruit tree. By the time you've bought the tree you already have to know if you have room for the tree you are getting. This includes height, width, and avoiding incompatible obstacles like the children's sandbox or your spouse's favorite rose.

And then there is the fruit. How do you prune for the best fruit? There are three widely used forms for raising temperate fruit. They do not cover all possibilities, but they are great tools for getting most jobs done.

Open Center This is my favorite because it can be used for many types of trees and because it is easy for me to climb and pick fruit. An open center tree is formed like a wide bowl or vase with the main branches coming out of the trunk anywhere from one foot up to about four feet up, pointing in different directions.

Usually four main, or scaffold, limbs are recommended, but I vary between three and five depending on what the tree gives me. 

If the type of tree is well suited to this form it will be easy to prune each year. Fruits that take well to open center pruning are: almond, apples (most), apricot, cherry (pie), fig, nectarine, peach, and plum (Japanese).

A nice open center prune job.

Top view of the above tree. Note the small fifth
scaffold limb. It fills a spot that the older limbs
were never able to use.

Central Leader This is what we think of as a 'classic tree'. It has a trunk that runs from bottom to top with scaffold limbs popping out in all directions from about three or four feet from the ground to nearly the top of the trunk.

The central leader form is often used for big fruit and nut trees that can not harvested from the ground. It is also used for shorter trees that have strong vertical growth, like pears.

Trees that do well trained to a central leader are: apples (red delicious, jonathan), butternut, cherry (all), chestnut, filbert and hazelnut, pear, pecan, and walnut (black and English).

This would be well on its way to a central
leader if it were not sick and dying.

Modified Central Leader This is the same as a central leader, but the limb that is serving as the 'trunk' is cut back somewhat short of its top.

Many years ago when I was just learning pruning, I thought of this as one of the best and most versatile ways to prune a fruit tree. Now, having rarely used it, I wonder if I have learned wisdom, or if I need to rethink some of my pruning.

Trees that do well with a modified central leader are: apple, apricot, cherry, pear, and pistachio.

Other forms that are used, but less thought about are:

Natural Form Citrus and most plums do well with only basic removal of dead, sick, and crossing limbs. 

This plum has done well for most of its life with
little help from me or anyone else. Now that it is
getting older I keep more of an eye out for dead
wood. I take a few live branches mainly to improve
sunlight for the remaining branches.

Multi Leader Service berries, filberts, and other trees that have a natural suckering habitat and no root grafting are usually right at home going somewhat amuck.

Double Leader Some trees are highly susceptible to diseases that are only treatable by removing all the infected wood, plus some. By providing a secondary, smaller leader you provide insurance against a bad infection on either of the leaders. This is my favorite way to prune pears.

Dozens of other systems for pruning fruit trees exist. But this is a solid list of the basic forms for a beginner to learn and the most productive for the average home owner.

Permaculture Pruning: Lesson Two

If you are going to cut a tree it's best to know how to do it right. Improper cutting often results in tree infection and growth of rank, poorly attached wood that become a hazard as they get larger and heavier. It also results in ugly scars that lower the beauty of the tree, no matter who you are.

If you have any questions regarding definitions please refer to Permaculture Pruning: Lesson One. I will be updating a few terms that I missed, so don't worry if you didn't catch a phrase the first time around. Permaculture Pruning: Lesson Three will talk about what your tree structure should look like.

There are three basic branches that most trees will need cut:

Side Branches: These are smaller than the branch or trunk they grow off of. Side branches should be cut just outside the collar. If you can not see the collar, go to the branch bark ridge and follow it away from the tree just to where the curve ends. Cut at a 90 degree angle through the branch at that spot. This is only an approximate placing, so please look for the collar first on every cut.

This collar is big and easy to see.

It comes out an unusual distance on the limb,
though. If if becomes a problem, I will trim it back
more in the summer.

Main Branches: When a branch has to be cut, but doesn't need to be cut all the way to the base, a heading cut is used. A heading cut cuts a limb just above a side branch. The cut should be high enough that it does not cut into the side branch or encourage it to dry out, but low enough to not leave an ugly stub. The cut should be angled so that it is slightly lower on the limb on the side that is away from the side limb. 

The size of the side branch should be at least 30% the diameter of the limb that is being cut. This gives the plant enough leaves and potential energy to keep the reaming part of the branch healthy. If the side branch is not big enough or has been trimmed too heavily, the remaining part of the branch will die or a lot of weak water sprouts will form.

I cut this one a bit too far out. No pruner is
perfect, but by trying we get better.

Co-dominant Stems: These are two branches that are about equal in size and vigor. Having co-dominant stems is like having two bosses going different directions -- neither one is in charge and neither one wants to give up power. The best solution is to take out one of the branches while it is still young.

Start the cut just above the branch bark ridge, if it is visible. If not, start as low down as you can get inside the crotch. The cut on this is always a crap shoot because co-dominant stems are rarely text book. Sometimes you have a ridge on the opposite side of the limb, just a branch width lower, sometimes you don't. If you have that secondary ridge, cut to just above it. If you don't, try to make the cut the same way you do on a heading cut.

Co-dominant stems do not have the chemical and mechanical protections that other branch connections have, so when you cut out one of the branches you should expect to see a cavity form where the cut is. The smaller and younger the limb is when you cut it, the more likely it will wound over quickly and leave a smaller cavity.

Co-dominant stems occur many places on a tree. 

There is one type of branch cutting that gets used very infrequently on trees, but is very common on shrubs: the basil cut. To make this cut you go down to where the tree meets the ground and make a clean cut. Basal cuts are a common way to renew multi-leadered shrubs like shadbush, currants, and red twigged dogwood. 

Basil cuts should only be used on trees that have multiple stems or leaders. Most often it is used to coppice the tree. If you choose to establish a coppice, remember that tree leaders are often not well attached to the roots and that you are now responsible for the safety of the tree, even if you move away or are otherwise prevented from maintaining the tree.

Many nurseries try to sell tar or other treatments to go over fresh cuts in the theory that every wound needs a bandage. Whether it is to 'keep out water' or to 'help heal the tree', the science is simply not there to prove it. 

Oftentimes simple application of known tree science refutes the bandage idea. For instance, a dressing that is intended to keep water out of a cut, ignores the fact that water for the tree is being brought up through the wood that has the cut. Simple logic says that water is more likely to be trapped by the dressing.

Permaculture Pruning: Lesson Three will start showing how to make it all come together on real plants. I look forward to seeing you there!

Wall of Shame

A drive by a local church a couple of weeks ago proved that bad pruning is always just around the corner.

Plate 1: Workers cut through the branch collar past where the tree keeps it's own chemical protection against fungus and bacteria. While these trees still have some protection, it has been seriously compromised.

Plate 2: This cut goes beyond the branch bark ridge. Now all of the chemicals that protect the limb connection have been cut off. You can see an intact branch bark ridge on the set of limbs behind the cut. 

Plate 3: The 'fuze' at the base of the cut indicates someone doing the work that is not comfortable with the equipment he is using. While all tree trimmers have an occasional bad cut, the scrapes on the right side of the cut proves the trimer had bad control of his saw and did not care about the tree.

Plate 4: Two wrongs do not make a right. Three, four, and five don't either.

Plate 5: Two for the price of one?

Plate 6: This is a classic case of tree topping. If you look closely you will see that the major upper level limbs were cut to create a uniform hight. While the idea has appeal, it has the same logic as cutting off a child's feet to solve the problem of different shoe sizes.

Plate 7: The pruner could have made the cut closer to a side branch to encourage growth on that branch. As is, this stub will either die, or more likely, sprout four or five weakly attached branches.

Plate 7: One of these branches has a good cut , but the redirect branch is not big enough to fully support the larger branch that was trimmed. The rule of thumb is that the redirect branch needs to be at least one third the diameter of the removed branch at the point of the cut.

Plate 8: There are times when a bolt needs to be put in a tree for support. This tree is tied to a stake that is much weaker that it is. Even if that were not the case, the eyelet screw is flimsy enough to be pulled out of the tree.

If you prune trees you must study and train so that you know how to do it right. If you hire people to prune for you, you still need to study so you know who to hire.

One last thought: if your doctor practiced medicine like this landscape company practices pruning, what kind of shape would you be in?

Permaculture Pruning: Lesson One

Me climbing into the main crotch of a peach tree.

To prune properly, you need to know something about how the plant is structured and how it responds to getting cut. The following is a list and description of some of the important parts of a woody plant for you to know when pruning.


In future posts I will teach how to prune right.


Branch A subordinate shoot coming off of a larger stem.

Branch Bark Ridge This is a pucker of bark that appears on the upper side of the angle where two limbs meet. It is most common on angles where one limb is bigger than the other. Branch bark ridges do not appear on all trees. Lindens, for instance, rarely have them.

Crotch The area where two limbs meet.

Co-dominant Stems Two branches that are about equal in size and vigor.


Collar A swollen ring at the base of a branch where it meets the trunk of a larger branch. This ring contains wood created from the branch itself as well as the larger limb it is attached to. The collar is easily visible on some limbs, but it is usually hard for the beginner to see.

Included Bark When two branches grow close enough together that they are unable to knit together properly. This causes the back to get caught and die between the two branches. Crotches that have included bark are common breaking points when the tree is under stress.


Node The point on a stem where buds and leaves are or were attached.


Scaffold Limb The major branches of a fruit tree.


Spur A short, slow growing stem that is often the area of fruit growth.

Sucker A shoot growing from the base or roots of a plant. Watersprouts are often called suckers.


Trunk The main stem of the tree.


Watersprout A vigorous, fast growing branch. Watersprouts usually grow vertically.

Choosing to Remove Trees

Removal of a tree is always an emotional decision. Usually the one wanting the tree removed is passionate about why he wants to remove it. There is almost always opposition to the removal that is equally passionate. Sometimes that opposition is silent, but the bigger the tree, the more the conflict and trouble that is likely.


Some of the legitimate reasons to remove a tree are:

1. Competition with another tree that has greater financial, esthetic, or emotional value.
2. Competition with a man made structure, whether it be a house, power lines, or sidewalk.
3. The tree is dying.
4. It has lost the value it was originally planted for.
5. The tree is a weedy species.
6. It is creating a bad phycological impact on those who live and work around it.
7. The tree has become too much of a safety risk.

The last point is the most important: safety is the overriding decider in anything with trees. 

I don't think I need to list the reasons to keep a tree, I think we all have plenty of our own. I do ask that you respect the property owner's right and responsibility for his trees. While there are trees worth fighting for, they are not as frequent as I would like.



Too often I see that the trees that are being fought over are in bad shape and causing problems for the whole neighborhood.



A particular case in mind was a lot with large Siberian elms. These elms were dripping slime from a bacterial infection, had weak limbs that were a risk to the neighborhood kids, and were spreading seeds that were growing in every crack and fence line within a mile radius.


In this case the preservationists won, but I have to wonder if at this point, ten years later, they would be happier with what the property owner wanted to plant as part of the project, or the sick trees they stuck themselves with.

I know I would have chosen the healthier, safer trees.

Making Permaculture Better

A well pruned peach tree that will provide lots

of good sweet fruit. It is trimmed low enough

that my elderly client will have little problem 

harvesting it.

Many people jump into permaculture head first when they finally find it. This is not a bad thing, if they realize that permaculture is primarily a design art and that much of its effectiveness is based on experience and observation.

A good example of this is a friend of mine last summer. She put a couple of dozen apple shoots in water. When they seemed to be healthy, she proceeded to plant them, only then to reap disappointment when they all died.

Observation of a bouquet of flowers with lots of greenery might have given a hint at how difficult it can be to start a plant from a cutting. A quick chat with an experienced gardener might have have given her some tips for a better outcome. A well worded internet search also would have given her some things to think about.


A reasonable knowledge of practical gardening wisdom would have been enough to lead her to a highly successful apple propagating experience. This knowledge can be gained a number of ways, and I will cover that in later posts.


Here are three key areas permaculturists will find especially helpful:

Plant Propagation 
Most of us get how to grow a plant from seed, a few have successfully save seed, a couple are willing to pollinate flowers by hand, but who knows how to graft a favorite apple tree? What about getting a cutting from a peach tree to send out roots? By expanding our knowledge of creating new plants we create better opportunities for quality food.


Soil Science 
Of all the permaculture and home gardening books I have read, only one does justice to the soils of my home state. And that book is dedicated to flowers. With the complexity of soils extending from pH to soil structure to water infiltration to nutrient availability, no permaculturist can afford to have a less that professional scientific knowledge of the soils they rely on.


Pruning 
I know Fukuoka preached in favor of no pruning on his citrus, but not pruning doesn't work well on peaches and many other temperate fruit trees. A permaculturist must not only know how prune a fruit tree for best food production, for the health of the tree, and safety of those who work and play under them.