I want to induce branching in some apple, pear and peach trees. All I could find on the Internet is that I should notch about one month before bloom or leafing out. But when is that in my area, zone 5b?
The exact timing is not critical.
As long as it is done before the grand period of growth , when the shoots put on their most growth.
So from now till early June will work. Earlier being better .
Ideally before growth starts .
notch when pruning, during dormant season.
Or anytime You happen to walk by.
Mostly avoidā late ā stimulation of growth, and itās all good.
Notch under a branch / bud to slow it down.
Notch above a branch / bud to encourage growth.
Just cut down to the wood ,
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@Hillbillyhort Glad to hear you say notching works even during dormant season as that doesnāt invite fire blight. Before I had heard to notch at bud swell for max success but more than happy to try your way.
What do you think about using a hacksaw to notch? Just one pull 1/4 inch above bud. Itās faster for me than knife but wonder if the cut is too narrow and might heal up too soon.
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Hacksaw should work
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Im not sure itās 100% needed. Will likely depends on the tree and itās size/rootstock etc.
I however see no harm in leaving a nurse limb. So if it is not to inconvenient i would just hedge my bets and leave a nurse limb.
I havenāt top-worked that many treeās though. So you might want to wait for some one with more experiance to chip in.
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The way I see notching isā¦
It blocks the flow of auxin coming down the stem.
Auxin inhibits the growth of buds.
So blocking it , fools the notched bud into thinking itās the top bud .
So it grows .
Since a notch made anytime during the dormant season,will not heal until growth starts .
Dormant season notching works.
Can re - notch during early growth if it looks like it will help.
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Well , I will next time.
I put 40 grafts on a older Braburn tree ., that I was going to removeā¦ Many new varieties.
( Braeburn has not done well here)
Cut all the top off , put those grafts on there just to have a place to store them. Out of 40 , ~ 3 failed . The rest put on good growth.
Sadly the whole tree died the following year.
So a lot of wasted effort there.
Iam thinking ,ā¦ if I would have left several nurse branches for a year , it may have helped .
If I would have spent the same time / effort, bench grafting 40 treesā¦ I would have ~ 40 new trees .
Instead of one dead one ā¦
That is usually what I do. One graft one tree .
Field grafting is inconvenient for me.
Bench grafting ā¦ easyā¦
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Sorry to hear that. Man that hurts.
I planned on just 14 grafts- two on each scaffold. Maybe thatās not enough.
Should add I have had good luck top working too.
That one just did not work out.
Not so worried about the lose of ā that ā tree.
Just the lose of effort that I put into it.
I think I have those varieties backed up somewhereā¦
I think leaving 1/4 - 1/3 of limbs on as nurse branches could be good .for a year.
Helps shade large scaffolds . , source of carbohydrates for the tree for the year.
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If one is top working a tree, and severely top working. I mean a large, maybe overgrown tree. In addition to the newly grafted scions I would allow all of the water sprouts to grow for the first several years. Cut them to nubs after the first year and let them regrow, If some are helpfully placed on the tree, retain these and graft onto them if they willl make desireable scaffolds. Trees have dormant buds and you will be surprised how many might be awakened through drastic pruning as you throw the tree into survival mode. The extra shoots provide respiration, carbohydrate production, and keep the roots alive.
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@Masbustelo Great tip to use watersprouts as nurse branches that will be easy to remove in future or graft. Brilliant.
Top-working young trees needs no nurse limbs a lot of people say. At what age/size do you need nurse limbs? 20 years + Iād say for sure. Wondering about my 10 year old apple - a limbertwig- on Geneva 30 roots (pretty vigorous)- trunk caliper 5 inches.
Hambone I canāt answer your question because I have very limited experience. However, I topped a 40 year old pear tree last year. I didnāt leave a nurse limb and had dormant buds shoot sprouts from āall overā. This year I am keeping about 20 of last years shoots and will be grafting many different varieties on to them. It seems in apple orchards some do and others donāt leave nurse branches. I would say better safe than sorry. The important thing in top grafting as i understand it is enough top growth to move sap in hot weather to ventilate the tree, keep the roots alive and produce sufficient carbohydrates to get you through the first several seasons. A mistake I made was not placing enough grafts to circle the cut area. I think they should be every 3-4 inches to heal where the cuts were made.
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I estimate number of bark grafts by diameter of rootstock at the cut stump: one graft per every inch of diameter. Six grafts spaced around a six inch diameter rootstock stump, etc.
Also learned (the hard way) to whitewash the trunk right after stumping it and grafting. Otherwise sun can ruin the bark and doom the tree. Old bark can look bulletproof but itās not- very susceptible to unaccustomed new solar rays.
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Can someone post a pic/video on notching? My liberty apple tree only wants to send out shoots on the top of the trunk. Seems quite hard to make it lower branches by just pruning. I wonder if notching can help here
for pears. Dr. Stefano Musacchi, WSU
this video is also a beautiful counterfactual to the conventional wisdom against non-bypass prunersā¦ hereās an expert in the field using non-bypass pruners and heās able to quickly do girdling and notching with them as a bonus
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Had not seen tip removal before to stop apical dominance. Neat tip. I notice all his notching is just over a bud, never under.
hambone I believe notch above to push growth and notch below to slow growth.
another article
Scoring for buds
Dr. Musacchiās advice to increase feathering and minimize blind wood was to score the leader above dormant buds with double bladed pruners. Score deep enough to cut into the cambium and phloem or until you get to the darker green layer under the bark (approximately 1 mm deep). This scoring will cut off the downward flow of auxins which are produced by growing shoot tips (Tamas, 1987). The auxins are produced by the growing shoot tips which normally prevents bud break below (Tamas, 1987).
http://omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/hort/news/orchnews/2019/on-0419a1.htm
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I notch below to generate a fruit bud.
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