soggy donkey herder on Nostr: npub1actk2…nae5f yes! I’ve just been rereading this book called The Holistic ...
npub1actk2qdw4uaj6qt8lzt4h75wr4pmfhkqp2fyfwrd7qg729nghndsnnae5f (npub1act…ae5f) yes! I’ve just been rereading this book called The Holistic Orchard by Michael Phillips as I trimmed my own apple trees! Please disregard what I say if anyone with more experience contradicts me, this is just what I read.
Go and look at the tree and see if you can spot the difference in last year’s growth and prior years. Apples and pears both fruit on two-year-old-wood. Last year’s shoots are all growing vigorously upward and their bark is smoother than the older growth. You want to cut almost all of last year’s off, back to the new-growth line, because otherwise the leaves on the new growth will block the light that the apples need, and dense canopy promotes disease.
I’ll share a couple of pages from the book. It’s very good!
Go and look at the tree and see if you can spot the difference in last year’s growth and prior years. Apples and pears both fruit on two-year-old-wood. Last year’s shoots are all growing vigorously upward and their bark is smoother than the older growth. You want to cut almost all of last year’s off, back to the new-growth line, because otherwise the leaves on the new growth will block the light that the apples need, and dense canopy promotes disease.
I’ll share a couple of pages from the book. It’s very good!