This is perhaps the other side of pruning - the results of
not pruning. As Michael says, one gets only 50 chances. And I am a very slow learner. I have a number of trees, (of many different cultivars, so it isn't just a cultivar issue), on Ottawa-3 rootstock, (any relationship to my problem?), which I have been endeavouring to train in a central leader fashion. I do appreciate that I failed badly in my early training, and have ended up with my scaffold limbs a lot higher than they should be. But that is not my current problem. The leader on many of the trees persists in bending over into a graceful arc. And, no, this is
not induced by the weight of fruit pulling it over - most of the affected trees are not yet bearing.
Herewith an example of what I am talking about: <a href="[
www.flickr.com]; title="bent trees 004 by David Maxwell, on Flickr"><img src="[
c4.staticflickr.com]; width="2048" height="1829" alt="bent trees 004"></a>
So, two questions: 1) why is this happening? 2) what do I do about it? (Go around and plant tall stakes at each tree to bind the leader vertical?)
Broomholm OrchardZone 5b in Nova Scotia
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2015 09:23PM by David Maxwell.