Fall Leaves or Leaf Fall - Pruning Conundrum

Dear Folks,

One of the things that is both amusing and frustrating to Deane is pruning the deciduous trees.

But first make sure you take precautions with the coming hard frost here in the valley.  See my google letter to readers for tips and information.

Click here.


Back to pruning the trees.  The key to pruning the trees is first you look for all the leaves to fall which indicates the sap has stop running and you want to get the pruning done before the new flower-future fruit buds form.  Except here in the valley where you are supposed to go out and talk to the trees and find out when they are going to drop their leaves.

The fig tree after a cool couple of nights and days decided around December 7th to drop all of its leaves in 3 days!  Sitting in the little outdoor breakfast nook, I commented that we needed to eat in a hurry so we would not be buried in the leaves.

The peaches and the apricots, on the other hand, like to hang on to all of their leaves, or at least most of them well into mid to late December or even January all the while happily putting out new flower buds.

The thought of cutting off all of that potential fruit is enough to make an rancher/orchardist like Deane cry, but as we lost 3 trees this year, most likely to old age, a deep pruning was called for and he girded his loins (actually getting into old sweats) and proceeded to remonstrate the trees for clues on the best branches to take off.

The result was a pruned tree still holding onto its leaves!

Oh and all that pruned wood?  The trailer ready to go to the landfill where they transform the branches and twigs into mulch was a masterpiece worthy of a peasant of good sturdy stock and his hard work.

Tips For Pruning:

1) Most pruning of stone fruit trees should be completed before the first of the year, so as to minimize cutting out potential fruit.
2) Most experts recommend a 'vase' shaped configuration, removing crossing branches and opening the center of the trees to allow maximum air flow and light.
3) Citrus while evergreen can occasionally use a pruning, mostly to remove dead limbs, HOWEVER, many commercial citrus growers will allow dead limbs - if not a safety issue, to stay on the tree to support fruit-bearing branches.  Prune Citrus before late January/early February flowering.
4) When pruning try for a downward facing cut so that rain and moisture cannot collect on the cut edges.

Fruit Thinning:

It is a bit early for this tip but you should have the information handy.  The reality of thinning stone fruits is while it seems wasteful to pick off every 2 or 3 young fruit, you will protect the tree in the long run.  We have once or twice not gotten the fruit thinned and the result was broken branches from the weight of all the moisture ladened fruit.  Also the resulting fruit is very small.

The general recommendation is about 6 inches between remaining fruit.  If that is too much for you to deal with, try picking out all but 1 peach out of each cluster,  but do watch the weight of the branches. It is not uncommon to see heavy branches supported with a 2 by 4.

Have a safe and Happy New Year, keep warm, take care of the plants, family and pets, and I will have more information to you next year!

-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

Find my books on gardening or cooking in print or ebook.  www.lulu.com/herbs2u

Frost Burn Damage - Ugly but Healthy!

Good Day Folks,

In the desert we have two types of direct weather related damage — frost damage (really a kind of ‘burn') and sun burn. Both do identical injury to the plants and both should be dealt with in similar fashion.

First — Don't touch the damage until the danger is over! If you are a gardener more interested in beauty than longevity of the plant, you should probably be gardening only with ornamentals, although you will miss the shear pleasure of harvesting your own bounty from your own gardens, while enjoying their beauty most of the year.

Unless we have a severe weather experience, most frost ‘burn' or sun burn are on the top of the plant only, and the damaged, dried out portions provide protection to the lower healthy foliage and fruit. If you cut the damage off before the danger is over it is like exposing new baby skin to full sun or cold - the damage will be greater and you could lose the plant.

Second — watch for new growth below the damaged area, sometimes beginning at the soil level, but often beginning at branching areas. This is a good indication that you can start the pruning process and that the frost danger is over.

Third — once the danger is over, you can begin pruning off the dead branches a "little" at a time — DO NOT cut it all off at once — give the protected growth time to acclimate to the sun and air by working around the plant pruning off about a fourth or fifth of the plant then waiting a day or two and do the next section — it should take you about a week to do all the pruning.

Some plants grown here in the desert such as basil or tomato, which you have successfully wintered over with cloth protection, will take a bit longer to get started — their growth is triggered by the warming soil, not just the lack of frost, so watch FIRST for that new growth at the base or nodes of the plant, before beginning to prune.

As we move into the warmer temps of spring, keep that water meter handy for checking soil moisture content.

Welcome to spring in the desert!

Accuweather is a great site for getting detailed weather forecast info by zipcode. http://www.accuweather.com — you can sign up to receive a 5-day brief forecast and go to the site for detailed long range (15 day) information.

-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

P.S. With the rains we have had this year, we should have a spectacular wild flower display in the desert. To find out where wild flowers are showing up now and later on click here for the desertusa site.