Pruning Fruit Trees to Prevent Disease

it's wintertime and this is the time of year when I prune most of our dormant trees for healthy fruit production but there's another very important consideration any time you're pruning any fruit tree and that is preventing the spread of disease so even though in winter my focus is production my priority is always disease prevention I'm Kyle from urban farmstead and today I'm going to show you some of the best ways to prevent disease in your fruit trees through pruning [Applause] [Music] disease prevention in pruning is a lot like food safety in cooking I could make you the most delicious meal you've ever eaten but if you go home and get sick it's not gonna be a good meal and I could prune this tree perfectly making all the right cuts in all the right places but if I'm using dirty shears from a tree that had a disease and now this tree has that disease I'm worse off now that I was before I started so let's get right into it disinfecting your pruning shears is the first and most important step in preventing disease isopropyl alcohol is a great general-purpose disinfectant so I use it to wipe down my tools between every plant that I print but there are a lot of other options out there so if your pruning a plant that has a recognized disease it's important to know that you're using a disinfectant that's effective on that disease in addition to keeping them clean they should also be kept sharp and I won't spend a lot of time talking about sharpening in this video but in general bypass pruners like these have one flat side that should be maintained flat and smooth and a beveled edge that should be sharpened to its original angle using a sharpening stone anytime I need more than just a quick edge and usually when I'm sharpening larger tools like these loppers I'll use a vise to hold the tool and I'll start with a file take off any larger burs then I'll finish the edge with the sharpening stone dull blades create ragged cuts that won't heal well providing opportunities for pests and disease so always use sharp blades to make clean cuts that will heal more easily [Music] my very first consideration with pruning starts before I even come out here into the garden it starts with checking the weather many plant diseases are actually spread by the rain and are more active in wet conditions so avoid pruning on rainy days and whenever there's rain in the forecast if possible now today we have a beautiful sunny day with nothing but sunshine in the forecast no rain so I know it's a great time to print ok my ears are clean they're sharp now it's time to start making some cuts and I'm gonna start with this cherry tree no I'm not because cherry trees and apricot trees at least in my area in Northern California should never be pruned in the winter time because they're very susceptible to certain diseases that thrive in the winter time when it's cold when it's moist so I never make cuts to my cherry tree and I've had an apricot tree I wouldn't print it either while it's dormant in the winter time I'll make those cuts in summer let's move on to a different tree all right I'm here at the nectarine tree now and I'm up on my ladder and I'm seeing that I really don't have a whole lot to cut so there's one thing I always start with and that is looking for any dead wood and removing it so I've got a stick here I'm just gonna remove it just pass the part that started to die so if I see that there's still some dead wood there I can cut it a little bit further back that's the case here so I'm actually gonna have to cut off this whole live branch just to get rid of all that dead wood and that's really important because dead wood is going to be the area that pests and disease are gonna attack first [Music] anytime you burn a plant you create a wound that makes that plant vulnerable to pests and disease but with proper pruning techniques these wounds are minimized and plants are able to heal quickly without becoming infected whenever you're removing an entire branch of any size that cut should be made as close to the base or color of the branch as possible without cutting into the Collard cutting too far from the collar will create a stop that won't properly heal while cutting into the collar will create a larger wound that will take longer to heal the collar is this swollen section of the base of the branch in general heading and thinning cuts should be made at a slight angle about a quarter inch past an outward facing bud or leaf node here's an example of what can happen when they cut has made too far past a leaf node the cut did encourage these two new branches to sprout but it cut off sap flow to the stub which eventually died back and here's an example of what can happen when a cut is made too close to a leaf node causing it to dry out and again die back and create a stop so take the time to make your cuts at a slight angle about a quarter inch past that outward facing bud [Music] when cutting to remove dead or diseased would look closely at the cut to be sure that it's removed completely with Deadwood I like to cut off as little as possible that continue to cut it back if necessary but with diseased wood it may be impossible to tell exactly how far into the branch that disease has traveled so it's often recommended to remove 12 inches beyond the visual indicators of that disease using the right tool for the job is about more than just being efficient and in the case of pruning it's about not creating more damage to the tree I know that in most cases I can cut branches up to about an inch in diameter with these snips but anytime I'm feeling a lot of resistance I know it's time to move on to my larger loppers clearly the loppers cut through this branch much more easily but what's more important to note is the damage that was done by my hand pruners when I forced them to make a cut that was more appropriate for my loppers [Music] branches like this that are crossing or rubbing on each other should be separated it's one thing that they're crowding each other but it's even worse that over time that continuous rubbing is creating an open wound that the plant is constantly trying to heal of course there are tons of different methods and techniques for printing different trees depending on their time of year their variety of their age and a lot of other factors but one general rule for pruning any fruit tree is that you want to maintain good airflow and sunlight not only will it help to ripen larger sweeter healthier fruit but it'll also contribute to the general health of the tree by making it less vulnerable to pests and fungus and disease when you're finished printing plants that could be infected with a disease collect all of the clippings and dispose of them don't put them in your compost don't put them in your yard waste just get rid of them you don't want any of that disease material sticking around your garden and the last thing I'll do is sterilize my pruners one more time because next time I need to make one quick cut in the garden I might forget to sterilize them so I might as well do it while it's fresh on my mind so when you go to prune your fruit trees this season don't make disease prevention and afterthought make it a priority because that perfect wineglass scaffold on your peach tree is only good if that tree is healthy I hope you enjoyed this video and if you did give it a thumbs up if you want to see more like it hit subscribe below I'm gonna go prune some more fruit trees we'll see you guys later you

Channel: Urban Farmstead

Views: 5,453

Rating: 4.9855595 out of 5

Keywords: How to, How to Prune, Disease Prevention, Fruit Tree Pruning, how to prune fruit trees, Peach tree, stone fruit, how to prune trees, orchard, home orchard, sterilize pruning shears, Felco, sharpen pruning sheers, Fruit tree disease, plant disease, tree diseases, easy pruning, diy

Id: ZVlhtWXtSKU

Length: 7min 7sec (427 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 13 2020