Pruning Schedule - Winter 2013

I'm starting earlier to prune fruit trees this Winter, for a variety of reasons:
-  Good for the fruit trees, good for the fruit;
-  This will be a heavy blossom year;
-  Enjoy a preview now, flowers in your home!

Here are the Saturdays I plan to get out and prune fruit trees:
February 9, 16;
March 2, 16, 30;  April 20

Here are the orchards we'll focus on:
Emma Townsite orchard;
Mary Lou Zordel's orchard on Emma Road;
Happy Day Ranch in Emma;
Fisher Creek Homestead apple trees above Cattle Creek;

Details:
Saturday, April 20:  Once again, I'm afraid we'll have to postpone our visit to Fisher Creek!  This past week has brought lots of snow, and Saturday promises to be raining or snowing again.  The hike in to Fisher Creek would be quite muddy, I'm afraid.  Pruning in Emma will also be challenged for the same weather, so I'm going to have to cancel the rest of our pruning for the season, as the blossoms will soon be opening.

Fisher Creek Apple Trees at the old Haff Homestead on Fisher Creek.  There’s a wonderful history there, that I’d love to share. I suggest that we meet at 9:30 at the start of the driving route, at Cattle Creek Road and Hwy 82.  From there, we’ll drive up in fewer cars.  I’ll be bringing two aluminum orchard ladders, so my little “ladder truck” will be going up, and I can fit three people in addition to myself.  In the link below, you'll find paths for driving and hiking to reach the trees.  Please bring your lunch, water, pruning tools and work gloves.  Come back to this blog in advance of April 20, as snow/mud conditions on the ground in Fisher Creek may cause us to change the location of this workshop to Happy Day Ranch in Emma.

Saturday, March 30:  Zordel Orchard in Emma (park at the Emma Schoolhouse and carpool west on Emma Road to the Zordel Orchard) at 10:00 am.  We'll prune until 2:00 or 3:00, so please bring a bag lunch, water, pruning tools and work gloves.  After this session, everyone is invited to my home in the Hillside neighborhood above downtown Basalt for a few refreshments, a tour of the fruit trees I've been pruning (and planting) since 1984, and for some apricot fruiting wood you can take home and blossom indoors.  Placemarks for Happy Day Ranch and MT-Home are available in the Google Earth Link, below.


Download "Google Earth" Placemarks for these places;

We have two new aluminum orchard ladders, a gift from C.O.R.E., making our work a bit more safe and secure.  If you want to join the pruning work on any given orchard or any of the Saturdays listed, leave us a comment below this post, and follow this blog as we approach each pruning date, for updates.

In the right sidebar are shown some examples of the best pruning tools.  I find having a good pair of pruning shears and a folding saw allows me to make 90% of the necessary cuts.  We each need to have at least one of these two tools, which can be found at Eagle Crest Nursery or at hardware stores.  Any larger limbs we need to take out can be handled by the hand-operated chain saw, which I'll bring.

If you would like to take home some pruned branches with many fruit buds on them, get your heavy vases out, and bring your Swiss Army Knife and a handful of rubber bands to prepare the branches for indoor blooming.  I'll be thrilled to show you how easy it is to do.

Please wear shoes or boots with "gentle" soles, such as Sorels or sneakers, to avoid damaging the trees' bark when climbing on it, and bring work gloves to protect your hands.

Thank you!