Pruning Apple Trees in Alberta
How to Prune Apple Trees in Alberta
Prune your apple tree.
When to Prune: The best time to prune is when the tree is dormant. Dormant pruning removes some growing points to increase the root resources to the remaining buds. In Alberta, this is done during the in March or early April, prior to leaf-out in the spring. Our winters are too severe, and the snow may be too deep to prune in the fall or during late winter.
Understand and Protect Your Tree: At the end of each growing season, the top of the tree and the root system are in balance. To encourage proper dormancy, I would recommend that you only fertilize your tree in early spring, and reduce water to your tree by mid August, to encourage it to go dormant in a timely fashion. You do not want to encourage lush growth late in the season! “Water it in” after the leaves start to turn yellow after a killing frost late in the fall to protect the roots from dry soil and penetrating frost.
I do not recommend summer pruning! When you remove branches and leaves when they are actively growing, you cut out the accumulated energy that the tree has created over the growing season before fall. The tree will not have a chance to move that energy from the tops to the roots for winter; the net effect is a depletion of tree root reserves that is results in reduced vigour or lack of hardiness for the following season.
Goals of Pruning: There are normally two goals when pruning an apple tree: Training young trees to encourage a strong, solid framework to support early production and branches capable of supporting heavy crops in future years, or pruning mature apple trees to maintain shape and encourage apple production.
Young tree scaffold branches.
Young Apple Trees
The day apple trees are planted is the day to begin to train and prune them for future fruit production. Too often apple trees are planted and left untended for several years. This neglect results in poor growth, delayed and under-sized fruiting.
A new apple tree will usually be either a 1 m (3 -4 foot) whip (it has no branches), or a 1-2 M (6 foot ) tall young tree with several branches. This is assuming you have not purchased a dwarf variety.
If you have recently purchased, or own a young tree, and need to determine its shape as a mature tree, this is how to go about it!
Central Leader
Training to a central leader produces a tree that has a pyramid shape. If your newly planted tree is a whip (it has no branches and looks like a long stick) snip the tip at a height of about 90 cm (36 inches). This will stimulate branches to grow along the trunk, and the topmost bud will become the central leader.
For a new tree that already has side branches, cut off the tallest growing tip (on the leader). Cut off any branches along the trunk between the ground and 61 cm (24 inches) high. Cut back any remaining side branches to 5-10 cm (2 to 4 inches), leaving no more than 2 buds on each branch stub.
First Summer:
Make sure the top shoot becomes the leader. Pinch back all other shoots competing for the top spot at the top!
First Winter:
If there has been a lot of new growth, choose 3 to 5 branches for the first set of scaffold branches. These branches should spiral around the trunk with about 10 cm (4 inches) vertical distance between each branch.
Cut off the other side branches and any vertical branches that may compete with the leader. Prune back the main leader shoot, but keep it as the highest part of the tree to maintain your pyramid shape.
Second Summer:
Make sure that the top shoot is growing vertically, cut off any competing shoots.
Second Winter:
Select another set of scaffold branches 60 cm -90 cm (2 to 3 feet ) higher than the first set. If the tree didn’t grow enough the second year, do this the third winter.
Each year after this: Keep doing the above until you have 3 or 4 sets of scaffold branches. Then simply keep that shape by pruning out water-sprouts and any crossing, diseased, or unwanted branches. Try to keep the lower branches longer than the upper ones to maintain the shape.
Mature Apple Trees:
Prune mature apple trees to maintain shape and encourage fruit production. The only growth you ever want to prune or remove during the summer months, when the tree is actively growing, is a sucker, (shoots coming from the roots).
Here is a list of types of branches you always want to prune out when the tree is dormant in March or April:
Stubs or broken branches
Downward-growing branches
Rubbing or criss-crossing branches
Upward growing interior branches
Competing leaders
Narrow crotches
Whorls
Pruning Mature Apple Trees
Full-size, mature trees usually already have their shape determined, so it really comes down to maintaining their shape and size. Hopefully, their scaffold branches were well chosen at the beginning of the process!
Start with removing broken or diseased branches, rubbing or crossing limbs, weak stems, and any branches growing inward to the tree’s center. Also prune out any growing vertically or straight down, thin out enough new growth to allow light to filter into the canopy when the tree has leafed out so the fruit can ripen and color properly.
Shorten any branches that are too long to avoid leggy growth, shape tree evenly and remember apples flower and fruit on old wood, so head back new growth to direct energy back into the flowers and fruit.
Also, if in the past years too many apples have formed and crowded each other out, you can thin the spurs to only a few per branch. This will allow enough light and air to circulate around to avoid diseases and small, puny fruit.
Corrective Pruning for Neglected Apple Trees
You may have purchased a house where an apple tree was planted on the property several years ago. Often, the previous owners did not take the time to properly prune the tree. The tree has become bushy, diseased or weak and will produce very poor quality apples.
The general rule of thumb is not to remove more than 30% of the branches any given season, so this is at least a three – four year process! Excessive removal of branches will result in water-sprouts or suckers all over the tree. The main objective in pruning such a tree is to try to open up the interior to allow good light penetration to the leaves.
Fireblight on apple tree branch.
The first step is to inspect for dead or diseased branches. Check them carefully for signs of the disease Fireblight. Telltale dead branches will have dead tips with sunken lesions along the branches, or shrunken, scorched looking bark.
Make sure you have a bucket with some 10% bleach solution in water to dip your pruners into between cuts. You will spread the disease from branch to branch if you do not. Diseased branches must be cut back 45 cm (18 inches) from the dead wood. If the disease has entered the main trunk, you must remove and dispose of the entire tree, or it will act as a carrier for the entire neighbourhood. Sorry!
If this is not the case, then begin with corrective pruning! Remove all the upright, vigorous growing shoots at their base that are shading the interior. As with the young apple trees, it is necessary to select 3 to 5 lower scaffold branches with good crotch angles and spaced around the tree.
Limbs with poor angles, and excess scaffold limbs, should be removed at their collar (base where they attach to the main branch).
Pruning Dwarf Apple Trees
Dwarf Apple Tree
Dwarf apples are relatively easy to prune because of their small size. Most dwarf apple trees aren’t much taller than 2 M (6-8 feet). This means in most cases, you won’t need of a ladder, which makes the pruning job faster, easier and safer.
Prune dwarf varieties every year the same plan that you would use to prune a full-size tree.
Maintain its height by cutting back the central leader by 60 cm (2 feet), depending on the vigour of the tree, to a strong lateral branch.
Open up the canopy of your tree so that when it is leafed out sunlight and air can still easily penetrate its center. This helps prevent disease, reduces pests and encourages proper coloring of the fruit as it ripens.
Thin old-growth spurs that are growing too closely together. Apples will form on old-growth spurs–thinning them now helps prevent too much fruit from setting on later.
Remove and dispose of all cuttings, especially diseased branches.
In future years, you may have to repeat this to keep the tree the height you want.
Wormy Turnips and Coffee Grounds
Turnips and Coffee Grounds
Q: Lucy Lambert: I have heard that when a person plants turnip seeds with coffee grounds that this prevents a wormy turnip. Is this true? If not what could one use?
A: Bottom line? No – coffee grounds won’t cure a wormy turnip, but here’s what you need to know:
Cabbage maggots larvae attack turnips, rutabaga, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and radishes. These maggots emerge from the soil in mid May (the same time that the Saskatoons flower) in the form of small, gray flies that lay white eggs at the base of stems and on the soil.
It takes less than a week for the eggs to hatch horrid little legless maggots that go straight back into the soil to gobble up the roots of their favourite veg.
Newly-planted seedlings quickly turn yellow and die, then they come back in a little more than a month as a fly to repeat the cycle for a second time!
Control Options
The best control is exclusion! You can protect the beds from the flies where seeds have been planted with cheesecloth, re-may fabric, or nylon sheeting. You need to leave it on from the time the saskatoons flower – from mid-May until the end of June to eliminate the 1st and 2nd life cycles.
Don’t plant cole crops in the same place. Completely clear out maggot infested crops and roots (rather than shredding and rototilling under the decimated plant remains).
Once cabbage maggot damage is noticed, it is too late to apply control procedures. Since the first generation of cabbage maggots is the most damaging, planting seeds or transplants after the peak of adult emergence (wait until June) and egg laying in the spring may provide the best control.
High Tech Approach: Commercially, growers estimate peak emergence by accumulating degree-days after the ground has thawed (e.g., beginning April 1st). The daily formula to use is: (Max. temperature + min. ambient temperature/2) – 43 F. Peak emergence of the first three generations will occur when 300, 1475, and 2650 degree-days have accumulated, respectively. Plant afterwards.
Chemical Control
The available chemical options are preventative; no insecticides are labelled for use once an outbreak is underway.
Cultural Control
Adult cabbage maggot flies are probably attracted to rotting organic matter and freshly rototilled gardens. Avoid ploughing fresh animal manure, weeds, green manure, or other cover crops in spring. If there is a winter cover crop, plough it at least 3-4 weeks before planting.
Ploughing crops in fall is better than ploughing crops in spring because the cabbage maggot flies are more attracted to live, green organic matter incorporated into the soil.
If cole crops are directly seeded, use a drag chain behind the planter to eliminate any moisture differences in the soil between the seed row and the adjacent soil. Moisture from newly planted seed rows can attract cabbage maggots.
Biological Control
Naturally occurring soil-inhabiting fungi may attack and decrease cabbage maggot larval populations. Predaceous ground beetles also eat cabbage maggot eggs, larvae, and pupae. Parasitic wasps also help to reduce cabbage maggot population. At the present time, there are no commercially available biological control options
Coffee Grounds
Used coffee grounds are reported keep bugs at bay by acting as a repellent for snails and slugs (not cabbage maggots).
Used coffee grounds are high in acid, and a natural fertilizer for plants that like foods high in acid, such as evergreens, azaleas, rhododendrons, and blueberries. The grounds also provide nitrogen to your garden.
The worms love the coffee, too. They will eat the grounds and produce a nice, fertilized compost.
How Recycled Coffee Grounds Work in the Garden
In addition to obvious things like water and light, most plants need nitrogen to grow. The nitrogen’s job is to keep the green parts green.
The coffee grounds contain about 2% nitrogen, .03% phosphoric acid, and a bit of potash. The typical chemically created fertilizer you would find in the store would look something like 10-10-5, or 10% nitrogen, 10% phosphorus, and 5% potassium.
The grounds work like a slow-release fertilizer. Each time it rains, the nitrogen and acids leach out and fertilize your plants.
Recycling your coffee grounds is easy! Simply spread your coffee grounds around the base of your acid-loving plants.
You can leave the grounds on top, or you can mix them in to the top two or three inches of soil. You can also mix your grounds in with your compost, just keep the grounds to less than 25% of the mixture, or it will become too acidic.
Wormy Turnips
Fairy Rings in Edmonton Gardens
How To Get Rid of Fairy Rings in Edmonton Gardens:
Q: I have tried everything to get rid of fairy ring but unsuccessful…do you have any suggestions?
A: Hello Mark, Thank you for your question on getting rid of Fairy Rings in your Edmonton lawn. No matter how well you tend your lawn, the dirge of a home gardener is the appearance of a fairy ring.
Fairy Rings in the Lawn
The telltale circle of mushrooms eventually leaves a ring of dead grass. There are plenty of old wives’ tale cures from boiling water, digging, watering, special tools…the list goes on and on. There is no simple solution that really works well. Fairy rings are caused by mushroom fungi; yet there are no fungicides that will control the mycelium, or underground growth of the fungus. Heavy fertilization and watering can help.
Control:
1. Dig it Out: I’ve used this method the most successfully. I call it part of Tam’s spa program. If you are highly energetic, considering exercise, and own a wheelbarrow, you may decide dig out the fairy ring. You must remove the fairy ring turf and soil for 18 inches on both the inside and outside of the ring. The soil should be removed to a depth of at least 2 inches (5 cm) below the zone of the white fungus mat that you’ll discover when you start digging. When removing the affected areas, try to prevent any of the turf or soil from spilling onto healthy areas. Fill the area with fresh top soil and then reseed or re-sod.
2. Drown it Out. The roots of the fairy ring (mycelium) actually repel water, which is what causes the grass to die out. To overcome the extreme drought conditions, use a root feeder or garden fork to punch holes in the fairy ring every 4-6 inches (10-15 cm) apart and 10 inches (25 cm) deep. Soak the holes every second day, if not every day, for at least a month, especially if the fairy ring had progressed to the dried grass stage. Add a teaspoon of liquid dish detergent in a gallon of water to act as a wetting agent to help the water soak into the infested soil. A complete soaking of the area, in addition to a fertilizer application can not only suppress but may even eradicate the fairy ring
3. Wait it Out: Fairy rings will tend to die out naturally when they encounter sidewalks, flower beds and other cultivated areas. Lots of folks extend their flower beds to include fairy ring areas.
4. Duke it Out: I found this one online: Another possible method of eradication is based on the fact that when 2 rings come into contact with each other, they will exhibit antagonistic behavior, which leads to the death of both rings. To take advantage of this natural control method, one may wish to remove the sod in heavily infested areas, cultivate the soil several times to mix the mycelium of one ring with another and then re-seed or re-sod. Really?
Whatever method of control is employed, good turf management practices should follow to ensure re-infestation does not occur. This includes a regular fertilization program in addition to irrigating to a depth of 6 inches (15 cm). Shallow watering should be avoided in all instances.
But there is good news on the horizon. There has never been a cure. Until now, that is. While researching the fungus that causes blackleg in canola, Prem Kharbanda, of the Alberta Research Council, accidentally came across bacteria in a soil sample from central Alberta that not only stopped black leg in its tracks, it also disabled fairy ring.
Prem is experimenting with the bacteria to determine the most effective way to administer it to the soil to kill fairy rings. It will take at least two or three years before the Alberta Research Council confirms their result, and after that, another couple of years before it can pass through the federal government registration protocols.
Dr. Prem Kharbanda is a Senior Scientist with the Alberta Research Council.
What to Plant Beneath Evergreens?
What to Plant Beneath Evergreen Trees?
Q: Lisa Johnson – What is the best grass to seed in shaded areas under fir trees?
A: Hi Lisa, I get asked all the time about what will grow under evergreens. Dry shade is the toughest place to grow in! My best bit of advice is that nothing will survive directly under the canopy. It’s just too dry! A better plan is to use a cedar or stone mulch directly beneath the boughs. However, if the area in question gets at least ½ a day of sun (6 hours) and gets wet when it rains, here are some alternatives:
Creeping Red Fescue Grass Thrives in Shade
Grass for Shady Areas:
To establish a lawn just beyond the ‘drip line’ in an area around the fir trees, seed the shade-tolerant grass-Creeping Red Fescue. Red fescue (Festuca rubra) is an Edmonton hardy grass ideal for use around trees as the grass has a very high tolerance for shade and thrives with low amounts of water, fertilizer and mowing. The grass has very fine leaves and a dark-green color and has a slow growth rate. Red fescue has low tolerance for heat except when planted in areas of shade. The grass establishes slowly and has a moderate level of resistance to wear.
Alternatively, you may consider growing perennials groundcover plants beneath evergreen trees. This will be a challenge, because spruce and pine have low overhanging branches can create an extremely shady and dry place to grow. Remember surviving is not thriving! Ideally, you would mulch directly below the branches, and plant the perennials beyond the drip line (past the edge of the tips of the branches).
Perennial Groundcover Alternatives to Grass for Dry Shade:
Shade loving Bishop's Cap Perennial Groundcover
Elephant Ears(Bergenia), Bugle Weed, Creeping Jenny, Gout Weed, Lily of the Valley, Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), False Nettle(Lamiastrum), Lamium, Bishop’s Cap, Euphorbia, Perennial Geranium, Stonecrop, and Solomon’s Seal.
Growing Tips for Dry Shade:
Plants beneath the branches must compete with shallow and wide spreading tree roots for water and nutrients. Contrary to popular belief, tree roots generally don’t penetrate great soil depths, but are found within the top 30 cm (6”) of the soil.
For anything to survive dry shade, you have to water and fertilize. Water deeply and frequently and use foliar fertilizer like 20-20-20 at a rate of 1 tbsp/ 4L instead of soil applied fertilizer to ensure that the understory plants receive the nutrients.
Falling evergreen needles will slowly increase the acidity of the soil to levels that many plants cannot tolerate. In some cases, a tree may shed so many needles that the lawn or plants below simply become smothered. Don’t fight nature – go with the flow! Needles are an excellent mulch.
