Pruning Workshop, Saturday April 7, 2012

I feel a little "piggy", having pruned only my backyard trees so far this Winter, and having the "Winter Blossoms" all to myself!  The buds haven't opened up yet on the trees, in spite of this early warm and dry spell, so anything we prune can still be forced to blossom indoors.

Which brings me to the point, pruning fruit trees!  I will host a pruning (live wood) and trimming (dead wood) workshop on Saturday, April 7, from 9:00 am until 2:00 pm, at the Emma Schoolhouse, and across the highway at the Emma Townsite. Let's just meet at the Emma Schoolhouse, and we'll split up into crews from there.

Bring work gloves, pruning shears, loppers, hand saw, jacknife, and pieces of string or ribbon for tying up your branches to force blossoms at home, if you want to try that.  If you have a good ladder and you can haul it, please feel free to bring it.  If you are comfortable climbing trees, please make sure the tree is comfortable having you climb, by wearing gentle-soled shoes (no Vibram-soled hiking boots on the bark, please).  See the links on the right for examples of high quality tools, most of which can be found locally at Eagle Crest Nursery in El Jebel.  Also peruse the pruning training videos if you like, to brush up on techniques.

I hope to see you out there!
MT

Fruit Thinning - Spring 2011

It appears we are going to have another bumper crop of Apples, Pears, Plums and Cherries this year, on all the Heritage Fruit Trees in our valley!  An experiment we did on one of the apple trees in Emma back in 2009, by thinning the fruit as soon as it forms after the blossoms are done, resulted in a fairly significant harvest in 2010, an off-year for all the trees around it.

This Spring, since we did very little winter pruning of branches, and since we have a bumper crop of blossoms, we'd like to propose that our Heritage Fruit Tree adopters visit their trees after the blossoms are done, which should be the first or second weekend in June, and remove about half of the small fruits, leaving no more than 3 small fruits per cluster on apple branches, or what looks like half the fruit on any other species.  This allows you to select the healthiest looking fruit for the tree to finish, and remove the fruits that appear stunted or weak.  Of course, you'll also be removing some healthy looking fruit, but the results will be worth it.
You should experience a crop of larger and juicier fruit this autumn, and you should see another crop next year, when trees whose fruit has not been thinned will have almost no fruit at all.
I'm planning to be at the Happy Day Ranch orchard in Emma on Saturday, June 11, and on Mary Lou Zordel's orchard on Sunday, June 12, to show adopters how to thin their fruit to achieve these results.
There will be no class and no fee, just some tree climbing and fruit thinning, so please join us if you want to experience this method of adjusting one of Mother Nature's trees to produce every year.

Fruit Tree Pruning Classes - SPRING 2010

Saturday April 17: Michael Bair Residence, 829 Frying Pan Rd, Basalt;
9:00 am - 3:00 pm;
$30 per person / 20 person limit
Download "Google Earth" placemark for Michael Bair's house!

BYO-Bag Lunch
Saturday May 1:  Sustainable Settings Ranch, Carbondale CO:
9:00 am - 3:00 pm;
$30 per person / 20 person limit
BYO-Bag Lunch

Bring pruning shears, folding saw, ladder if you have them, and work gloves.  See sidebars to right for great examples of tools, most of them available at all our local nurseries and hardware stores.

Emma Townsite Orchard

Here is an example of our Heritage Fruit Tree Survey, this one for the Old Emma Townsite, which is owned by Pitkin County Open Space & Trails.  If you download the PDF file in the link below, you can click on any numbered tree on the map, and jump to a page detailing that tree.  Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD EMMA TOWNSITE FRUIT TREE SURVEY

Autumn 2009 - Apple Harvest Schedule

It's harvest time, and there's a bumper crop of apples in Basalt and Emma. I've set a schedule for my cider press to be at the following orchards / places / dates:

Saturday Oct. 3: Billy Grange Ranch, Basalt;
Sunday Oct. 4: Happy Day Ranch, Emma;

Sunday Oct. 11: Mary Lou Zordel Ranch, Emma;

Monday-Wednesday Oct. 12-14: Sustainable Settings, Carbondale

Saturday Oct. 17: Billy Grange Ranch, Basalt
Sunday Oct. 18: Mary Lou Zordel Orchard, Emma

Saturday Oct. 24: MT's House, i24 E. Sopris Drive, Basalt;
Sunday Oct. 25: MT's House, i24 E. Sopris Drive, Basalt;

Hand Chainsaw!

Everyone liked my "hand-chainsaw" so much I thought I'd post the link to where you can purchase one of your own (you must call them to order - 800-249-9185):

Green Mountain Products, Inc.

Happy Day Ranch Pruning Class

It was a sunny day at Happy Day Ranch orchard, and we pruned four trees, two of which were sorely in need of a haircut, as you can see from the pile that came out of Bob and Deborah's tree, below.
Alex Halperin and one of her two apple trees, which is now sporting a Summer "butch cut". All the apple trees in Ginny Parker's orchard are full of fruit buds, so if their blossoms escape frost this Spring, get ready for a heavy harvest this Fall.