So I had a lot of freeze damage over the winter, worst affected being the cots and nects, which lost all the flower buds and are struggling to leaf out.
I can’t help thinking this might be an opportunity to do some significant pruning, cutting back and shaping for future fruit. But with so little leafing out, I wonder if this would be causing more harm to the trees.
There are also, on the cots, a lot of small branches that look dead but are actually still alive. How long should I wait for these to start leafing out, if they ever do?
What an amazing tortie first off! I was always told it was a good time after your last hard frost to prune out all the freeze damage and it is my belief that if you prune heavily in spring and give them a fertilizer boost if they are not in good soil it will reinvigorate the tree, but we are an arid climate and pruning usually does not lead to infections.
I’ve already given the trees a feeding this spring. We’re very wet here now, so I don’t want to do any work until things dry out.
The cots in particular are leafing out on the uppermost long sprouts. I’d like to do some cutting-back lower down but I fear nothing will grow from that point.
Im a big fan of spraying a heavy kelp solution a day or two before on the trunks and then doing some notching to get branching below. I did that for my contender peach that is heavily damaged and got new sprouts under the damage in case i have to cut the entire tree out.
Well she is absolutely beautiful and that is a very lucky cat there. Torties have more personality than any cat I have ever been graced with, Mine is so incredibly sweet and yet devilish just all hot and cold and the most amazing 9lb predator i have ever seen. She looks alot like yours and i do everything i can to give her plenty of places safe from predators as well as keeping a front area for bait bunnies (Cant make it into my backyard) so she stays safe. She is not even close to content staying indoors.
Lois,
I would not do any heavy pruning if your weather is still wet. I removed a couple of almost an inch thick limbs off my plum tree in early april. I did not know that we would have 21 rainy days in April and barely any sunny days.
Today, I noticed the area where I cut the limb off was oozing. Look like canker to me. (Granted this variety is not disease resistant). If I were to remove more limbs, I would wait for a good stretch of dry weather. It’s just me.
I disagree that blind pruning is a good idea. Wait to see where the damage is, the tree will generate new vigorous growth where it can and you can work from there. Most (all?) of the energy for first growth is derived from the wood where it begins so postponing your action to see exactly where the damage lies will not make a difference in your outcome. Sometimes cambium killed wood has normal growth until sometime after bloom.
What I’m wondering is whether a branch with almost all its buds dead and fallen off is likely to generate new growth along its length, or just at the top. If a branch is putting out growth only at the top, is it likely to push new buds if headed back?
If the issue is freeze damage, I don’t think heading back will spur growth that would otherwise not occur at all. If you cut where there is growth it seems you are risking killing the branch altogether.