greyphase
5 year old buck +
OK. So I'll admit to not being a diligent pruner in years gone by, but now I have a good number of trees grafted in the spring of 2014 and planted that fall and want to do it right. Here's a pic of a Brushy Mountain Limbertwig on B118 that has an 8 foot central leader and some real nice scaffold branches that are too low. Should I cut them all off this winter and prune the central leader back a foot or so, or should I only prune off several of the lowest branches this year and prune back the central leader so that the tree has enough branches to produce leaves for healthy growth and then prune off more of the low branches next year?
Example #2 is a Liberty on B118 of the same year that is a whip about 6 foot high. Was planning on pruning 1 foot off this tree to promote limb growth. Good idea or should I let it be and see how it branches out next summer? Also have some that are only about 4 foot tall whips. Should they be left alone to grow more height before topping off the leader?
These two examples are what my trees of the 2014 grafting year are looking like. Like most on this board I'm aiming for about a 5 foot first branch on my trees because of the deer. I'm at the age :eek: where I want to do it right to get the most & best growth out of them as soon as possible so that I can enjoy them. :)
As always suggestions, comments, and opinions are most welcomed.
Rick
Example #2 is a Liberty on B118 of the same year that is a whip about 6 foot high. Was planning on pruning 1 foot off this tree to promote limb growth. Good idea or should I let it be and see how it branches out next summer? Also have some that are only about 4 foot tall whips. Should they be left alone to grow more height before topping off the leader?
These two examples are what my trees of the 2014 grafting year are looking like. Like most on this board I'm aiming for about a 5 foot first branch on my trees because of the deer. I'm at the age :eek: where I want to do it right to get the most & best growth out of them as soon as possible so that I can enjoy them. :)
As always suggestions, comments, and opinions are most welcomed.
Rick