Power Secateurs For Pruning. 11 Apr 24.

 These helped a lot with today's pruning.

I think I got about three times as much done, as I would have otherwise.  Also, they cut through branches that would have been too difficult with my hand secateurs.  They extended my reach a bit, too.

Bush Cherry Carmine Jewel Blooming. 11 Apr 24.

 A few years ago, I tried to grow a bush cherry.  I think it was either the variety Romeo or Juliet.  They did not survive, due to some sort of cherry rust disease.  That also happened with a bush Nanking cherry.

In Spring 2023, I bought a Carmine Jewel bush cherry to try yet again.  So far, so good.  It grew through the summer, and survived the winter.  Now it's blooming.  Based on those blossoms, there could be a lot of cherries for such a small bush.

This is located in the rose garden / duck yard.  

First Dahlia Emerging. 11Apr 24.

 The first of the big, store-bought dahlias has started to emerge now.

It's in this container to get growth started.  Along with another tuber.   Next I'll plant it in it's own pot so it can get growing before going into its final location.

Pruning An Asian Pear Multigraft, In Bloom. 11 Apr 24.

 This Asian pear is pretty productive.  I forget the three or four varieties.  It grows too tall to manage the high growth - pruning, thinning, picking.  I cut back the top last year.  I waited until bloom so I can prune while preserving some of this year's crop.  It only needs to make a few bowls of fruit. maybe a batch to can.

I cut out the top again, shortening the trunk by about 18 more inches.  I shortened most of the branches back to stronger wood.  I don't want long, willowy branches with too much heavy fruit that break off.  I opened up the center some more, to bring more sunlight into the tree.

I think this size and density of blossoms will give us some nice fruit and enough of it. The branches are all within easy reach for thinning fruit, and picking.  It also sets up a better shape so that pruning next year will be simplified.

I have not pruned trees while in bloom, in the past.  It makes sense to me, but isn't what is usually recommended.  So we will see what happens.  Rainy season is about over, so this timing will give the cut ends a good chance to start sealing over, so maybe prevent disease from entering those wounds.  Vigorous growth is about to commence, which should be good timing.  I like being able to judge which branches to cut, based on the flowers now on those limbs.

Pruning a 20-year Old Hardy Chicago Fig Tree. 11 Apr 24.

Two years ago I radically pruned this Hardy Chicago fig tree, taking it from, maybe, fifteen or twenty feet tall  to about six feet tall.  Previous pruning had given it good scaffold branches, which were low and well spaced.

With such a radical pruning, it didn't bear the first year after that pruning, but bore heavily the second year.  I should have pruned it after the first year of growth, to create more, lower, branching, but was not able to until now.

I pruned again today.  Most of the 2-year newer growth branches were six to ten feet long, up to 1.5 inches in diameter.

Here it is after pruning.

Here it was before pruning.  I had pruned a few branches on the right, before it occurred to me to photo-document my progress.

I left most of the one to two year old growth, about a foot long.  But I didn't think too much about it.  I also removed a couple of large scaffolding branches that were in the center.  I want a low-branched, bowl-shaped tree to let in sunlight and make harvesting and later pruning easier.

This might have been too radical to have a crop this year.  Trees can fool me, so we will see.

Hardy Chicago is one of my best and most productive fig varieties.  They are truly delicious figs.  While it makes the buds for brebas, they usually fall off.  Then it sets an early crop of main-crop figs, entirely on new growth.  So nothing is lost, pruning in the spring.  The other side of that coin, however, is that a radical spring pruning might result in over-vigorous vegetative growth that might not make fruiting buds.