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At an Extension tree fruit seminar Feb. 24, Shawn Jadrnicek, Extension agent for hort iculture, lectured on pruning strategies and demonstrated the principles on some older trees that had not been pruned in some years.
For those that would like another opportunity for hands-on training for tree fruit pruning, there will be pruning workshop on Friday, March 17, from 1 to 4 p.m. This training will take place at Dickie Brothers Orchard located at 2685 Dickie Road, Roseland, in Nelson County. This training will take place rain or shine and participants need to come dressed for being outside the entire time and possibly very wet conditions. People that wish to take part should register by Wednesday, March 15, with the Nelson County Extension office by calling (434) 263-7180 or emailing [email protected].
This seminar will afford participants the opportunity to work with some commercially developed fruit trees and trees of different ages. At our February seminar, we learned about timing of tree fruit pruning. The pruning ideally takes place in late winter as the weather begins to warm and we have confidence the hardest freezes are behind us. Many commercial orchards prune their trees earlier in the winter simply because they have so many trees to prune they need to get a head start. There is some risk of cold injury when pruning in January or February in our region. This winter, of course, has been exceptionally mild and multiple hard freezes with temperatures in the low to 20s are much less likely now.
Shawn Jadrnicek recommends the publication from Pacific Northwest Extension by Jeff Olsen “Training and Pruning Your Home Orchard” as a good reference. This publication is available online and printed copies are available at the Rockbridge Extension Office.
