Creating sustainable life, beauty & food (with lots of kids and fun)
"The rule of no realm is mine. But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, these are my care. And for my part, I shall not wholly fail in my task if anything that passes through this night can still grow fairer or bear fruit and flower again in days to come. For I too am a steward. Did you not know?" Gandolf
Living in Anjou , France,
For the many not for the few
http://www.permies.com/t/80/31583/projects/Permie-Pennies-France#330873
Best regards - OD
"This is it, but if you think it is, then it isn't anymore..."
Jane
Beth Mouse wrote:The Permaculture Orchard DVD talks about using wire to train fruit tree brances to bend down and stay angled down close to trunk and ground. My husband, whom is no expert in fruit tree care and nor am I, says this is the first he has heard of it and that he has never seen this in orchards or anywhere around here (Idaho). He wonders why more people aren't doing it if it is the better way I guess. Stefan on the DVD mentions that 2 French researchers he talked to recommended it. I told him I would research and ask more about whether this method is truly better than just pruning and if any of you does this.
Thanks,
Mudwelly Girl
List of Bryant RedHawk's Epic Soil Series Threads We love visitors, that's why we live in a secluded cabin deep in the woods. "Buzzard's Roost (Asnikiye Heca) Farm." Promoting permaculture to save our planet.
Check out Redhawk's soil series: https://permies.com/wiki/redhawk-soil
El Polaco Loco - Share Skills, Harvest Opportunity
J Blair wrote:thanks mike for your description of what you are doing. I have a lot of old cotton t-shirts I have been saving - I knew they would come in handy some day. Do you plan on doing anything to the top of the trees to keep their height "low"? I have trees drafted on semi-dwarf rootstock, and I am hoping to keep them at a height that won't require much ladder work, but I am not sure how to handle it (I have ordered the book you mentioned, maybe that will give me the info)
El Polaco Loco - Share Skills, Harvest Opportunity
Mike Musialowski wrote:I'm soooo psyched that this topic has come up. My first pic shows massive vegetative growth (upwards branches that do not produce fruiting buds) in 3-4 year-old trees. Our various fruit trees have been happy and growing, but not producing much fruit. My initial reading about growing fruit said to avoid pruning in summer due to potential for disease. As a result half the branches looked like Manhattan! Pruning bulletins posted by land grant universities (including Cornell) made clear that this is all about hormones and that the best angle for a branch to produce fruiting buds was between 60 degrees from vertical to horizontal (ie, horizontal or slightly reaching for the sky). These would also produce stronger branches that wouldn't break under fruit load. But how to keep them growing that way?! I had watched The Permaculture Orchard: Beyond Organic but I was skeptical due to the other resources that corroborated each other, but not The Quebec method.
........
my overalls have superpowers - they repel people who think fashion is important. Tiny ad:
rocket mass heater risers: materials and design eBook
https://permies.com/w/risers-ebook
|