Is it safe to start pruning?

[SD51555]

I've got a lot of work ahead of me. My 2008 apple trees haven't had a haircut yet. They are long overdue and I want to get caught up. I've also got to pull my tree tubes and get those guys pruned so they can finish getting outta the tube. I assume the answer is yes, but is it safe to get going on pruning?

 

[leexrayshady]

actually its no, you can cause winter injury by pruning now, wait till feb march, after all the realy cold temps are past us

 

[Natty Bumppo]

I've got a lot of work ahead of me. My 2008 apple trees haven't had a haircut yet. They are long overdue and I want to get caught up. I've also got to pull my tree tubes and get those guys pruned so they can finish getting outta the tube. I assume the answer is yes, but is it safe to get going on pruning?

leexrayshady beat me to it, but yes, I agree. Could you prune now and get away with it? Possibly yes, but risky. It's better and safer I think though to wait until late winter/early spring to prune.

 

[Jim Timber]

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/00-005.htm

Some good stuff from our friends up North.

 

[SD51555]

Can I get away with doing the natives like american plum, wild black cherry, and cranberry? Id like to get some done today if possible.

 

[sandbur]

Is there much advantage to pruning American plum?

 

[sandbur]

Why do you want to prune those SD?

I could say great minds think alike, but maybe feeble minds just muddle along.

 

[West Branch]

Why do you want to prune those SD?

I am guessing it is due to living far away and when he can get there.

Another reason I am hoping to get some crab apples to grow from seed and just let them go low maintenance.

 

[sandbur]

I am guessing it is due to living far away and when he can get there.

Another reason I am hoping to get some crab apples to grow from seed and just let them go low maintenance.

If you need some seed next summer, let me know.

 

[SD51555]

Some of them are choking themselves out in the tube with 2-3 extra verticals. I'm thinking they may do better and get up outta the tube if I get them to a single stem.

And I do live far away.

 

[SD51555]

My half baked idea was to get a half dozen of a ton of different soft mast natives going, and in tubes so the one deer that's there doesn't browse them off. It'd get to a small producing population then the critters could eat/crap the seeds and it could go from there on its own and hopefully develop new thickets.

 

[West Branch]

If you need some seed next summer, let me know.

I will probably take you up on that. We have some dolgo, chestnut and some sort of volunteer fenceline crab I am trying this winter. The fenceline crab is the only "wild" crab I know of around. Slightly larger than a dolgo and not as red. Mostly froze out this year though. Took seeds from the two apples I found. Need to release it this winter.

My half baked idea was to get a half dozen of a ton of different soft mast natives going, and in tubes so the one deer that's there doesn't browse them off. It'd get to a small producing population then the critters could eat/crap the seeds and it could go from there on its own and hopefully develop new thickets.

I hope for the same, we have plums that have taken over a grove but is surrounded by field. Haven't seen anywhere they have spread further. Only thing I have noticed wide spread on our farm is chokecherries. Good for birds I guess.

 

[Jim Timber]

My half baked idea was to get a half dozen of a ton of different soft mast natives going, and in tubes so the one deer that's there doesn't browse them off. It'd get to a small producing population then the critters could eat/crap the seeds and it could go from there on its own and hopefully develop new thickets.

My buddy needs to mow his pasture every other year or it'll be overgrown with American plum. Horse poop spreads the seeds extremely well there.

Eventually, I need to take him up on digging some up to transplant. I can have as many as I want.

 

[SD51555]

Well I went ahead and did it. I've been meaning to get this done for a couple years, and the timing never came together. I ended up (hopefully) fixing a number of tree tube issues. I had some that were kinked over because the pre-fiberglass stakes plantra sent were junk. I cut/tore away the broken ones. They did snap the trees. So I cut them just below the break and pruned below the breaks where I could. I don't know if there is any hope for them at this point, but we'll see.

On a positive note, I think I found my bud wood for next august's T-budding. These apples are slightly smaller than a ping pong ball and are hanging strong on 11/27. No clue what this is. It's the wild apple I found a couple years ago and I've been in the process of releasing/pruning. What's more interesting, is that when i found this tree, the apples were smaller, yellow, and rock hard. This year, they were bigger, red, and nice and mushy at this point.




I also found that my recently discovered chokecherry still had cherries on it, and they were very sweet.

 

[Turkey Creek]

hmmmmm.....I'd have to see some more pics of that last one, single fruit on single stems doesn't appear to be chokecherry to me.

I agree. I have never seen chokecherries holding this late either.

 

[SD51555]

As always, i reserve the right to be wrong. That was the best guess my dad gave me. There were a few clusters of three that had about a one inch stem on them. They had a single seed about the size of a large caraway seed. I chewed on a few of them and they taste like cherries. But ultimately, I can't say for certain what they are.

 

[leexrayshady]

I agree not chokecherry

 

[SD51555]

No thorns.

 

[SD51555]

Here's a picture of that mystery tree I took at the end of June. Is this any help to ID?