Pruning and Thinning Plants

I hate punishing plants for growing well.  Cutting grass.  Pruning trees.  Thinning plantings.  In this podcast, Salty and I talk about the trees and garden plants.  (Your HOA or other busy-body neighbors will be happy to explain why you need to cut your grass.)

If you’ve browsed around here at 3BY, you’ve seen a lot on gardening in general and tree plantings in particular.  This is because we think that producing food is a big part of being able to take care of yourself and your family.  We also like the versatility of it:  It’s a food prep that’s there if you’re just short of cash or if there’s no food at the grocery store to be bought, and the perennials like trees will last for decades with minimal care.

Partial amputations (pruning) improve tree health and productivity

They do produce much more if they Get that minimal care, though.  For fruit trees, the most important part of that is pruning.  My first thought was, “Why on Earth would I want to cut potentially producing limbs from my trees?”

Pruning off badly placed or too-long branches makes the rest of the tree more vigorous and productive.

Answer:  Better health and productivity.  For the tree I mean; beyond getting this job done it didn’t do much for My productivity.  How does wounding a tree make it healthier?  Many plant disease organisms like moist, shaded conditions.  Removing competing and crossing limbs improves air flow through the tree, reducing disease.  I don’t spray my trees, so this is important.

It’s a sad day when a limb laden with almost-ripe fruit splits from the trunk, not only wasting the fruit but seriously damaging the tree.  Have you heard how commercial turkeys are so over-bred for big breasts that their legs can often not support them?  Well, modern fruit tree clones are often so productive that long, spindly limbs break under the weight of the developing fruit. Pruning not only shortens the lever arm so the weight of the fruit isn’t as burdensome to the trunk junction (because Physics), but the pruning also stimulates more wood development in the remaining branch.

There’s also productivity. With fewer limbs to build wood and leaves for, the plant has more energy to produce fruit.  Bonus: You can use the pruning to make a more convenient shape; such as keeping the tree shorter.

There are people who explain how to prune much better than do I.  I have found the guide produced by my local(ish) nursery, Stark Brothers, to be very helpful.  You can find it here: 

https://www.starkbros.com/growing-guide/article/successful-tree-pruning

Gardener Greed can destroy your yield

Another spring chore I dread is thinning the garden plantings.  Ok, it’s not hard to take out the spindly, weak looking babies.  But the ones that look fine but are just too crowded?  It’s hard, because they look great!  And I’ve fallen for that before:  “Maybe if I just give them extra water and fertilizer…”  No. Good root and seed production requires sunlight and a good soil zone for collecting nutrients, and that means Space.  I had a great crop of carrot greens with a bunch of pencil-thin, sad little roots.

If something terrible had just happened and you were concerned about food supply (gardens are preps after all), you could quickly prep some more ground and try transplanting the ones that would otherwise be thinned.  It might be worth it if it wasn’t a fast-growing species or you were low on seed.  Otherwise, just call it an early harvest of ‘gourmet baby greens’ and Do It. Package directions on most seed packs tell what’s appropriate for the species.

Sorry Salty, fine as your seedlings are, all but one per planter must go.