Georgina Nelson Thomas

Mary James, good discussion. Like you, I noticed that after a few years of not pruning my peach tree, all the fruit was on the tips of the branches instead of close in, where the picking is easy. The peach tree is so prolific! -- with new leaves starting to grow on the trunk even, after a hard pruning.

I'm glad to read of your experience with cherry trees. I pruned my cherry trees in the first couple years, so that the branches were strong and well formed. After that, I consciously avoided pruning so that I would not be stuck with that never-ending pruning-every-year cycle. I don't know why my 2 cherry trees "stabilized" their growth pattern and decided not to send out suckers (that I'd need to prune). Maybe that's the growth pattern for cherries. But I was sure glad when they stabilized, because I dislike pruning (for many reasons).

So for the past five years or so I've been enjoying bumper cherry crops every summer, and no pruning. However, my tenant's mother decided to bring her pruners in and go to work. So now my two cherry trees, which never required pruning, are now sprouting rapid new growth. We'll see what happens later this summer. My tenant is in the process of buying this house, so although I was sad to see all my effort on those 2 trees come to an end, it's now his trees, his decisions, his work. I wish him the best, and maybe I'll learn from what happens to these trees in the years to come.

I like reading about your experience with pruned vs. unpruned. Although I do not prune, I definitely shape and "manage" the tree so that the fruit is easy to pick. I arrange the branches of a new tree so that there's 'corridors', which makes it easier to harvest the fruit. I manipulate the branches so that they grow exactly where I want them to. None of the branches are left on their own -- or they'd grow straight up. I've been doing my system for only a half dozen years or so, so I'm still learning all the time (wish I was younger so that I could try more experiments!). I'm in the Seattle area.

Your advice to fruit growers is excellent. It's the most important thing of all: to stop, look, listen, watch, notice things, spend time understanding what your trees and orchard and nature is telling you. In the end, an open mind and heart are probably the most important things of all.

Georgina

The no-prune approach doesn't work for trees like peaches, that only fruit on one-year wood. You *do* need to prune, because if you don't, the branches get longer and longer, with all the fruit at the tips (instead of further in towards the trunk). I don't know if the same is true for apricots, because altho I have 3 apricots, I only see blooms in the spring -- but no fruit yet (trees are 3 or 4 years old). I've had zero success, but I keep trying (and hoping for a very early summer because the trees bloom so early!).

I'm so happy to find this site! I stopped pruning years ago, after I realized that pruning is stressful for the tree and creates an instant and unwanted need for constant pruning (and constant work) on my part. So just stop it unless there's a specific need for it. Who wants all that extra work? What I do instead is train the tree. If I want a branch to grow in a certain direction, I have several methods I've developed. To bend a branch downwards, I put stones in footies (the kind that women use to try on shoes) and I attach the footie to a branch using a clothespin. Or, I "attach" a clothesline wire to the branch, I position the branch exactly where I want the branch to be, and then I secure the clothesline wire to the ground with bricks so that the branch stays exactly where I want it to. I use clothespins, clothesline wire, and cloth strips (rags) -- no knots, so everything is super easy to disassemble. I've also developed a system for gently moving stubborn and strong branches into place easily. All these methods were ones I've learned on my own, by looking and listening to the trees. Especially after I figured out that most of the pruning methods used are ones developed specifically for large orchards and large equipment, not home orchards and gardens. I also never water my garden or orchard ... yet I have bountiful yields of both fruits and vegetables. I never weed. I have mechanical systems in place to prevent weeds. I have fun! My garden and orchard are unlike any you've ever seen. No prune / no water / no weed -- and -- no till. Yes! Pretty soon I'll have my web site up so that you can see what I'm about. Pictures tell the story better than words (even though I could write forever, as you can see).