We held FOUR fruit tree pruning workshops in the Mayow Park orchard starting end of January and with our last session on 10th Feb 2024. Why four? A number of people asked to take part and we chose dates to accommodate them. This gave us small working groups so we got to share our skills and knowledge. Some people had no previous pruning experience and others had a lot. Some people were surprised to learn that it is best to prune stone fruit (cherries, plums etc) in summer as winter pruning can make them more susceptible to silver leaf fungal infections. All sessions were led by Alona.
We started by looking at tools, how we use them safely and tool care; anvil and bypass secateurs, telescopic fruit tree pruners, loppers, saws. We shared info on hygiene when pruning and why mulching our trees is a good idea.
We looked closely at some of the trees to check for 3 Ds (dead, damaged, diseased), and 2 Cs (crossing and crowded), talking about which branches to prune and why. Then we got to work, in pairs and under supervision.
We were lucky with the weather on all four sessions; despite rain being a daily occurrence we had two dry hours each time. Thank you everyone who came along and joined in.
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| Susan and Janet |
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| Yogi and Sue |
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| Alex with secateurs |
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| Mike and Sue with a vigorous perry pear |
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| Claudia and Millie with the Core Blimey |
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| Alona with a long-handled pruner |
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| Frank doing formative pruning on the Red Windsor |
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| Jean at work on Conference pear |
AS Feb 2024
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