[-Grower and Marketer, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 19, 2001
197
Pruning, Tree Health Discussed At Twilight Meeting
MICHELLE RANCK
Lancaster Farming Staff
NEFFSVILLE (Lancaster
Co.) A fruit growers’
meeting late last week drew
more than 70 area producers
and experts to both review
and exchange ideas about the
produce industry.
Jim Erb, owner and opera
tor of produce market Brook
lawn Farms, hosted the
event. Dr. Rob Crasswell,
Penn State pomologist, began
the evening with a review of
peach tree training.
Experienced horticultural
ist Ben Rogers, who prunes
Lancaster extension agent Tim Elkner opened the
evening with orchard owner Jim Erb, left.
Brooklawn trees each year,
aided Crasswell in the pres
entation. The pair demon
strated pruning techniques
on trees planted last year.
Crasswell pointed out the sig
nificance of having an open
centered tree.
Dr. Jim Travis, Penn State
fruit pathologist, said that by
removing the suckers and en
suring that the tree is bare in
the center aids tree health.
“If the foliage is too thick, the
inside of the tree defoliates.
Pruning improves air circula
tion and light, so there’s less
area for cankor to get
started,’’ he said.
“To continue to force the
branches outward, lightly
clip the growing terminals to
stunt the growth. That forces
the lower branches out hori
zontally,” said Crasswell.
“That also keeps foliage
there for canopy for photo
synthesis needed for
growth.”
Thinning a tree takes ad
vantage of the shoots on
either side of the trunk.
The trees were given “min-
Horticulture expert Ben Rogers, who prunes Brooklawn Farms’ trees each
year, demonstrates a technique to encourage the limbs to branch out more hori
zontally.
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imal training” this year be
cause of the trees’ slow
growth, said Rogers.
“There are two philoso
phies,” said Crasswell. “One
is to let the trees grow, and
the other is to intervene and
selectively chose branches to
get the most growth. As
Rogers and I said, there’s not
one right way.”
However pruning too late,
warned Crasswell, will put
stress on the trees by taking
away the young leaf surface,
•SSSSSP
which decreases cell division
and results in smaller fruit.
“Left go, they’ll be a brush
pile by fall,” said Rogers.
Changing Branch Direction
Rogers demonstrated a
technique traditionally used
in apple trees. By scoring the
stiff branches which tend to
reach upward, “not hardly a
quarter of the way through,
one inch apart, you can put
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