Master Gardener Fruit Tree Pruning with Eric Oesterling

Eric demonstrating how to prune grape vines. 

Eric pruning a blueberry bush.

An unpruned blueberry bush.

Eric demonstrating how the branches of an apple tree should be trained.


Pruned apple trees on Eric's property.

Eric demonstrating on how to prune an apple tree. The left side of the tree is pruned and the right is unpruned.

Eric talking about peach trees.

Pear tree

Apple tree with rootstock suckers.

NOTES: 

Grapes fruit on 1 year old wood. Keep moderate sized branches and cut big ones. Shredded bark branches are 2+ yo. Leave 5 nodes on smaller branches. 6-12 nodes on main branches. Keep pencil thin branches.

Apple fruits on 2-3 year old branches. Wider at bottom than top. More horizontal branches = more fruit. Cut all vertical growth or downwards growth and root suckers. 

Blueberries: prune off old less productive branches at base. Likes consistent moisture, does not tolerate fluctuations. New plantings, cut weak shoots & strip flowers for first 5 years

Peaches fruit on year old branches. -12 degrees kills fruit buds. 

Pears fruit on 2-3 yo wood. Grows like apple, but with more branches. 

Swiss Chard

So today was the big planting day for Swiss Chard. I didn't realize how big the seeds were! Had I known how few seeds there were in the packet I would've taken an extra! The kale and collard green seeds sprouted quickly, but they have now also become really leggy and I am not sure how to go about that. They are still too thin for me to touch and they are now all tangled :\ My peppers, tomatoes, and such are doing well. The tomatoes are starting to get real leaves and I got impatient so I pulled out the fish fertilizer tonight and gave them some! I am sure hubby will be complaining about how the house smells like rotten fish now ;) I'm supposed to start tomatoes in seven days...guess I will start the others then! I don't see how any of these will be big enough to play by May sticking to this schedule? Oh well....they're not for me anyway!

Seed sprouting

Last night, Carolina Reaper #3 popped up!

My first time ever starting kale and collard greens! These were sown for a Phipps initiative to get more fresh veggies into lower income areas where they don't have access to it. Phipps is providing everything! Raised beds, plants, tools, etc! Anyhow, these are incredibly easy to start of you have never tried them from seed. These started for me in two days on a heat mat! Can't wait to start the other seeds!