Pruning Time at The Granary

Winter will soon be drawing to a close here in Santa Clara County and the heavy rains we’ve been having foretell spring. Charles has been coming in on weekends to tackle the chore of pruning before our plants and trees wake up from their winter nap. He blogs below.

When it was time to prune our trees for the first time, I received a lot of information from some of the men who pruned for a living. They would come to the front desk of our office and ask without any hesitancy to know who was in charge. Each had a theory, one being that the sap needed to stop prior to pruning; another was prune in November before the heavy rains; others said in February which is typically one of the coldest months. I did get some very good information from Joe C. who helped that first year in making sure on the apricot trees that I cut all the branches that were crossing and that most of last years growth needed to be cut. He said don’t be afraid to cut limbs, the feeling being it will grow the next season without any problems.

The idea behind the pruning is to make sure the branches don’t get too long, since when the fruit starts to bear, it will create a lot of weight and too much will break the branch. I also go back when the fruit starts to bear and knock off some of the fruit to allow the remaining ones to have space to create nicely shaped fruit and to make sure the braches don’t get overly weighted down.

I start the “trimming of the trees” project usually after the beginning of the year, because there are so many other things to do prior to Christmas. I work during the week so I do the pruning on the weekends, usually 2-4 trees per day. It takes about 30-45 minutes to get a tree just right, so it’s a big investment of time, but I really enjoy the work and I think I know I’m doing it correct. Since the trees for the most part are healthy and producing a great deal of fruit, I take it as a good sign to continue what I’m doing.

This year I have had a partner in my pruning. It’s my 2 year old border collie named Katie. She mostly stands guard, but she is my buddy and I talk about what’s happening with the trees to her.

The trees in front of the entrance of The Granary have had their turn with the shears.

The branches have been momentarily left on the ground before composting and mulching. (Lindsey is thinking about stealing them to put in vases as decoration around the office.)

It’s not just the orchard trees that have gotten a haircut. The Miscanthus grasses have been sheared almost all the way to the ground, making this section of the orchard look like an amusing porcupine convention.

Action shot!