If you grow these wonderful fruit trees, the best time to prune them is now - in winter - or in very early spring before any new growth begins. Pruning not only helps to develop proper shape and form, but also encourages new growth, promotes high fruit yield, and maintains good tree health. At my Bedford, New York farm, I have many, many apple trees that are pruned every year. Pasang Sherpa from my outdoor grounds crew tackled one of the ancient apple trees yesterday.
Enjoy these photos.
My fruit trees are always very productive. These were some of the gorgeous apples from last fall.
The fruit trees are extremely healthy, in part because of all the care and maintenance that is done to keep them doing well.
Here is the dwarf apple espalier in fall apple picking season – hundreds and hundreds of juicy, delicious fruits. I planted this espalier when I moved here. It is located just behind my long carport not far from my Winter House.
A good number of my apple trees are at least 50-years old, so they were already here when I purchased the property. Here’s one of the ancient trees, with lots of apples ready to pick. To maintain productive fruit trees, they need regular pruning once a year.
And now is the time to prune them. The tree takes up a dormant state after shedding its leaves and before sprouting new buds.
Mature apple trees have a semi-broad trunk with wide, spreading branches. Dwarf apple trees range from 10-feet tall and up, while standard trees can grow more than 20-feet.
The bark of an apple tree is generally gray, scaly, and rough to the touch.
This old tree, with its long branches is supported with natural wood crutches.
Here’s Pasang pruning. He is our resident tree expert and oversees all the smaller tree jobs at the farm. Pruning is best completed before growth starts as cuts will heal quickly. There are two main goals of pruning trees. On young trees, pruning encourages a strong, solid framework. And on mature trees like this, they usually already have their shape determined, so it’s important to maintain their shape and size. Traditionally, apple trees were always encouraged to stay shorter, so apples were easier to reach.
I prefer much of the work be done by hand. Pasang uses this STIHL hand pruning saw. Cutting by hand gives my trees a more natural appearance and shape. Smaller twigs are snipped off with regular secateurs. Each member of my outdoor grounds crew has a pair.
Pasang removes the water sprouts. Water sprouts are thin branches which normally grow straight up from lateral branches and do not bear fruit.
Dead branches, or those without any signs of new growth, are also cut, so the energy is directed to the branches with fruiting buds. Here is an example of a dead branch – the wood is dark and brown.
Pruning cuts should be made fairly flush to the branch from which it grew. The idea is to leave slight stubs. By removing any more, the remaining branch has too much of an opening for disease to enter. Here, one can see where a cut was made.
Here are some of the apple tree buds. Tree fruit have two types of buds, terminal and lateral buds. Apples flower and fruit on terminal buds. A terminal, or apical bud, is located at the tip of a shoot. A lateral bud develops along the developing shoot at the base of the leaf blade.
Pasang cuts branches that are rubbing or crisscrossing each other, preventing any healthy new growth. Basically, the goal is to create a tree with well spaced lateral branches. Any branches which interfere with the tree’s shape or create a dense framework should be removed.
Here, he removes crowded branches to help let in light and promote good air circulation.
Once a section is pruned, Pasang pauses and takes a look to make sure nothing was missed. The end goal is to encourage good fruit production.
Pruning stimulates the tree to grow more fruiting spurs by eliminating competing suckers and unproductive wood.
After the branches are cut, they are gathered, neatly piled, and then either saved for kindling or processed through a wood chipper to make mulch.
Here, one can see that the tree on the right has been pruned while the one on the left has not.
By late afternoon, this apple tree looks great after pruning. I am looking forward to many lustrous green trees heavy with fruits come autumn. Another tree done, with many more to go – keep up the good pruning, Pasang!
My collection of warm-weather plants grows more and more every year.
As many of you know, I have a sizable collection of tropical plants at my Bedford, New York farm. Yesterday, I shared photos of the specimens now stored in my newest hoop house located in front of my vegetable garden. Across the carriage road is another hoop house, where I keep many of my sago plants, dendrobium orchids, and other palms. During the colder months, all these plants are tucked away in their designated temperature and humidity controlled structures and checked every day to ensure they are doing well.
Here are a few more photos of my thriving potted tropical plants.
If you follow my blog, you may recognize this plastic greenhouse where many of my tropical plants are now stored. They actually spend about seven months of the year in these heated shelters. The entire structure is built using heavy gauge American made, triple-galvanized steel tubing.
These greenhouses work by heating and circulating air to create an artificial tropical environment. The temperature in a tropical plant greenhouse should never drop below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
This is Oxalis triangularis, commonly called false shamrock. It is a species of perennial plant in the family Oxalidaceae. The trifoliate leaves resemble a shamrock and can be green to variegated to deep maroon in color. The leaves close up at night or when disturbed.
And the white to pink five-petaled flowers bloom in clusters in spring to summer on stems held above the plant and also close at night.
Lysimachia nummularia, commonly called moneywort or creeping Jenny, is a low-growing, creeping ground cover native to Europe, but has naturalized in parts of eastern and northwestern North America where it can be found growing along stream banks, lake and pond margins, roadsides, ditches, and other moist, undisturbed areas. I often like to use it as underplanting around my larger plants. Mature plants form a leafy mat only two to four inches tall. It features rounded, slightly ruffled, leaves.
This is one of my sago palms, Cycas revoluta. I love sago plants – sago is a popular houseplant known for its feathery foliage and ease of care. This very symmetrical plant supports a crown of shiny, dark green leaves on a thick shaggy trunk that is typically about seven to eight inches in diameter, sometimes wider.
These are younger sago plants, which I have nurtured from small pups. Sagos are very slow growers, reaching mature heights between 10 and 12 feet in about 50 years.
Adiantum, the maidenhair fern, is a genus of about 250 species of ferns in the subfamily Vittarioideae. The genus name comes from Greek, meaning “unwetted”, referring to the fronds’ ability to shed water without becoming wet. Maidenhair ferns have delicate fan-shaped leaf segments, typically clustered on wiry black stems, and their leaves are smaller than other types of ferns.
A very different looking fern is the narrow sword fern – a lush evergreen known for its bright green, sword-shaped fronds. Each leaf is made up of many narrow, overlapping, sometimes twisting leaflets. And look closely, each of the leaflets has toothed edges.
Colocasia, or elephant ear, will switch energy resources in colder temperatures from producing leaves to flower and corm production. Do you know the difference between colocasia and alocasia, the other elephant’s ear plant? The easiest way to tell the two apart is by the stem attachment and the position of the leaves. If the leaves point up, you are looking at an Alocasia variety, while if those shield-leaves are down, it’s likely a Colocasia.
Here is another Colocasia – I bring a number of these plants to Maine during the summer months.
Lady palms have broad, dark green, fan-shaped foliage on tall stalks. They need to get east-facing exposure, out of direct sunlight, and thrive in comfortable indoor temperatures around 60-degrees to 80-degrees Fahrenheit.
On this shelf, made from boards and stumps of felled trees grown here at the farm, are dendrobium orchids, all evenly spaced to allow every specimen ample air circulation. Raising plants on shelves helps vary plant levels and saves much needed space. And, like many hoop houses and greenhouses, light from the sun enters the plastic and is trapped, keeping the interior several degrees warmer than the exterior.
The heater is checked a couple of times each day to make sure the temperature remains comfortably warm inside. On this day, the temperature was at 60-degrees Fahrenheit – still perfect range for these potted plants.
The foliage of philodendrons is usually green but may be coppery, red, or purplish with parallel leaf veins that are green or sometimes red or white. Shape, size, and texture of the leaves vary considerably, depending on species and maturity of the plant. I have many philodendrons that are growing so well here at Bedford.
The kentia palm has arching evergreen fronds that form from crowns. Leaves are pinnate, or feather-shaped, about seven feet long, with unarmed leaf stems. Leaves have a number of leaflets that bend downward in a graceful fashion and are about two feet long, dark green on top, and lighter green on the bottom.
This is a Bismarkia palm, Bismarckia nobilis, which grows from a solitary trunk, gray to tan in color, and slightly bulging at the base. The nearly rounded leaves are enormous and are divided to a third its length into 20 or more stiff, once-folded segments.
Bismarckia is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm family endemic to western and northern Madagascar, where they grow in open grassland. The genus is named for the first chancellor of the German Empire Otto von Bismarck and the epithet for its only species, Bismarckia nobilis, comes from Latin for ‘noble’. I just visited the nation of Madagascar and will be sharing many photos of my family’s trip in coming blogs.
Inside the hoop house, we put a lot of attention into proper placement of each plant so we are able to fit many inside – without any of the plants touching.
Old hay bales, grown right here at the farm keep the structure extra insulated. I am fortunate to have these roomy hoop houses to keep my many plants looking their best until spring, when they are all brought out again.
Here in Bedford, New York, temperatures today are expected to reach 50-degrees Fahrenheit - quite warm for this time of year.
Yesterday was also unseasonably warm - 64-degrees Fahrenheit - warm enough to open my tropical greenhouses just a bit to let in some fresh air. I now have three large hoop houses where I store most of my tropical plants over winter. The last one was completed just a few months ago to accommodate my growing collection of potted specimens. These large structures are made from steel frames and polyethylene panels. Inside, the temperature and humidity levels are monitored and can be adjusted when necessary. And every few days, I like to go into each one to see how all the plants are doing.
Enjoy these photos from my newest hoop house.
Here at the farm, I now have six different greenhouses. This is the newest – located in front of my vegetable garden right off the carriage road and across from another tropical hoop house. These hoop houses work by heating and circulating air to create an artificial tropical environment. The entire structure is built using heavy gauge American made, triple-galvanized steel tubing.
The fabric is made of two layers – one is a heavy-duty, woven polyethylene that features an anti-condensate additive to reduce moisture buildup and dripping. The other side contains UV additives that allow the fabric to maintain its strength through the seasons. This Polyethylene fabric is designed to stand up to just about any climate. It also resists rips and tears, so it could last up to 10-years depending on the weather.
The plants inside are all arranged with enough space in between them, so they don’t touch each other. These plants grow a little more each year, so the placement of these specimens will change every time they are stored. The addition of this hoop house allows for ample room to store all these healthy potted specimens.
Just inside the front doors is this potted Beaucarnea recurvata, the elephant’s foot or ponytail palm – a species of plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to the states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz and San Luis Potosí in eastern Mexico. Despite its common name, it is not closely related to the true palms. In fact, it is a member of the Agave family and is actually a succulent. It has a bulbous trunk, which is used to store water, and its long, hair-like leaves that grow from the top of the trunk like a ponytail, gives the plant its name.
I have many agaves, including this giant blue agave with its beautiful gray-blue spiky fleshy leaves. Do you know… tequila is actually distilled from the sap of the blue agave?
There are several thermostats in all the greenhouses. The houses are checked a couple times each day to make sure the temperature remains comfortably warm inside. Too cold, plants will freeze – too hot, plants will rot. To simulate the best subtropical environment, we try to keep the temperature in this greenhouse between 50 and 85-degrees Fahrenheit with some humidity. On this day, it was quite warm outdoors, so we let in some fresh air. The temperature was at 80-degrees, still within proper range.
Fans strategically placed around the greenhouse help to circulate the air. I like to set ours on low.
The heaters hang from above and are fueled by propane.
At the back of the hoop house is this pretty potted ruffled fan palm, Licuala grandis. It is an unusual and gorgeous species of palm. Ruffled fan palm is native to the Vanuata Islands, located off the coast of Australia. It is a very slow growing palm which can reach up to 10 feet, but usually closer to six feet when grown in a pot. They are grown for their gorgeous pleated, or ruffled, leaves.
Another palm is the European fan palm. This is a slow-growing, clumping palm that grows eight to 15 feet tall and spreads six to 10 feet wide. This is the only palm native to Europe and is very hardy. The fine-textured fronds make this palm stand out from other plants. The leaf color ranges from lovely light green to silver.
The staghorn fern is an unusual and attractive epiphyte that thrives in the tropics. I adore staghorns and over the years have collected quite a few of these magnificent specimens. Staghorn ferns are called Platyceriums. They are Old World tropicals native to Africa, northern Australia, and Southeast Asia.
The staghorn fern leaves are actually called fronds, and staghorn ferns have two types. The first is the “antler” frond – these are the large leaves that shoot out of the center of the plant, and from which staghorn ferns get their names, since they resemble the antlers of deer or moose. The second type of staghorn fern frond is called the shield frond. These are the round, hard plate-like leaves that surround the base of the plant. Their function is to protect the plant roots, and take up water and nutrients.
Bird of Paradise, Strelitzia nicolai, is a species of evergreen tropical herbaceous plant with gray-green leaves that grow up to 18-inches long out of a main crown in a clump.
Here is one of my bird’s nest ferns, Asplenium nidus. The bird’s nest fern is known for its tropical fronds that grow out of a rosette in the middle of the plant which closely resembles a bird’s nest. It is also occasionally called a crow’s nest fern.
Asplenium nidus forms large simple fronds visually similar to banana leaves, with the fronds growing up to 20 to 59 inches long and 3.9 to 7.9 inches broad. They are light green, often crinkled, with a black midrib.
Spores on the bird’s nest develop on the underside of the fronds. These form long rows extending out from the midrib.
Goeppertia insignis, the rattlesnake plant, is a species of flowering plant in the Marantaceae family, native to Rio de Janeiro state in Brazil. It is an evergreen perennial with slender pale green leaves heavily marked on top with dark blotches and purple undersides.
I often underplant various pots with small spreading ground cover plants. Carpet Sedum is low maintenance, sun-loving, evergreen succulent that will thrive where other plants do not. It is native to parts of eastern Asia, with its name coming from the Latin word sedeo, meaning to sit, and lineare meaning linear, because of the narrow leaves. Sedums are often referred to as stonecrops because they are often found growing wild in rocky or stony areas.
Another underplanting I like is baby’s tears, Soleirolia soleirolii – a plant in the nettle family. Baby’s tears is a mat-forming tropical perennial with myriad tiny green leaves.
These are the leaves of a Ctenanthe burle-marxii – a compact plant with bright green leaves that are striped with alternating lance-shaped bands, and have deep purple undersides and stems. Ctenanthe are commonly called “Prayer Plants” because their leaves lie flat by day, but fold upwards in the evenings.
It’s always so satisfying to walk into these hoop houses and see all the plants thriving. I am glad all my precious plants can be stored safely indoors during the winter. And of course, I always look forward to when they can come out of hiding again in the spring.
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