Annual Pruning Masterclass - 10 February 2018

We were pleased to be able to prune the fruit trees in the Orchard on a dryish but very cold day. It was a perfect time to have a good look at the trees and to note any problems. Canker is still problematical in some cases......and we had to prune out some damage seen on a couple of trees (Laxton Superb up by the benches and James Grieve in the middle of the site) The rather frightening canker noted on the trunk of Arthur Turner (a cooker right beside the Bramley Seedling) seems to be drying up and healing itself. This does happen sometimes so maybe we'll be lucky.
We started the formative pruning necessary on the 2 new trees (Ashmead's Kernal and Pixie)  Otherwise in the maintenance pruning we were looking for branches growing too tall or wide and anything crossing or rubbing. There look to be already plenty of fruit buds especially on the pear trees which all did so well last year.
We were pleased that 9 "learners" attended.....some who were already Friends of the Orchard, but in addition, four were from Hurst Green Garden Club.

The 2018 pruning team with Jan Lambourn our tutor/orchard guru, fourth from left.