On Wednesday afternoon the tree pruner arrived. I had been instructed by my intern that I HAD to get photos of the pruner's puppy, Riah.
She had grown a bit since early March.
BEFORE photos on left, AFTER on right.
#1. North Star cherry: I had staked it so it would be more upright. He changed that first. Cherry trees want to have a vase shape. He also determined I might have 2 varieties on this, the root stock and the graft. You can see the bark is very different. He said the root stock may not be a fruit cherry, just ornamental.
#2. York elderberry: This was the best of all the little trees. He pruned off winter kill but mostly left it as it was. It anchored the corner and would do well as it grew.
#3. Goodbarn elderberry: We figure this will remain a low growing shrub. These Goodbarn elderberries didn’t grow much last year compared to the other ones. He pruned it so the branches would not be on the ground from the weight of fruit.
#4. Alleghany serviceberry: He didn’t do anything to this except take off winter kill as it had not grown at all. Even its comfrey hadn’t done well.
#5. Adams elderberry: He did a good amount of pruning on this one. He was looking at fruit weight and branches colliding under it.
#6. Lapins cherry: he had already lopped 3’ off the top in March. He opened it up to encourage the vase shape and took foliage off the lower trunk.
#7. Adams elderberry: This is the other Adams and he did some pruning on it.
This is 7. Adams elderberry and for some reason the deer seemed to have nibbled the middle range of sprouts on both Adams, but not touched any other elderberries. The Contender peach flowers looked a little ragged so they might have been eaten too.
#8. Goodbarn elderberry: I think this one did the least of all the elderberries. He didn’t take much off it. I double checked the photos, because this one in particular seems to show more foliage after than before, but it was just camera angles.
#9. Contender peach: He pruned this pretty heavily. The idea is that the weight of the fruit (and it might have some this year) will pull the branches down so they grow more horizontal. The sprouts left on them will grow out for next year, and their fruit will pull them down. As the tree fills out, some early branches may be pruned out to allow for new ones.
The Contender peach flowers. He took many off to encourage the branches to grow down from fruit weight but not break.
#10. York elderberry: This one got extensive pruning as there were several branches rubbing or about to rub.
#11. Juneberry: I think he took 1 branch off but mostly just left it as it was
These are Juneberry flowers in April. I suspect this year “June” berries will be in May.
#12. Sugar maple: As has happened a lot, sitting up on the top of the “mountain” by himself, he gets forgotten. The pruner guy didn’t look at him so he grows as is until next year.
He asked me to send him photos in the autumn when the leaves are off. He’ll be back next spring to do more shaping and maybe after that I will be able to take over.