Page 34 - Discover Spring 2021
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Weeder’s Digest CONTINUED
W eeder ’ s Digest CONTINUED
in order to fruit, most of them do. Crab (vertical shoots emanating from main
apples will do the job, or a second selection limbs), at any time.
is vital for fruit set. Some “triploids”, such Cherries come in sweet and sour
as the popular Stayman apple, produce varieties. While some sweet cherries are
sterile pollen. They will not pollinate self-fertile, the most popular, Bing, is not.
themselves or others, so choose a self- Plant another self fertile cross pollinator
sterile as a companion planting, such as alongside it. This will ensure fertilization,
Golden Delicious or Granny Smith.
and also increase your harvest, as birds will
Apples bloom in clusters of 3 or 4. If you no doubt contribute to the disappearance
allow them all to ripen, they’ll all be small, of your ripened fruit. Sour cherries, or pie
so when they are young and reachable, cherries, tend to be easier to grow and are
thin the cluster self pollinating.
to a single fruit, Pruning for both
so it will be larger tends to be less
and juicier. If you important, but
envision translating still try to keep the
your new purchase shape and structure
into future apple sound. Be sure to
pies, frequent spray fungicides
interaction is at bloom time and
necessary on your prior to harvest, if
part. Forget about the birds don’t beat
fruit production for you to it. Also spray
the first 2 to 3 years. Instead, concentrate with dormant or neem oil to inhibit insect
on pruning the branches into a pyramidal damage.
or modified leader system. The idea is to Fruiting pears tend to be one of the
encourage scaffold branches with wide easiest trees to maintain year after year;
angles in a spiral fashion around the however, they are susceptible to fire
trunk, allowing for air flow and strong new blight, a bacterial disease which blackens
growth, with new fruiting spurs.
the leaves and stems. It can be highly
This pruning regimen will also ease damaging, so keep a keen eye out, and
spraying to inhibit insect and fungal prune out affected areas quickly, as it is
issues, which would ruin that pie. Do the mostly incurable. Their growth habits tend
bulk of your pruning during the dormancy; toward the vertical, and multiple shoots
however, you may prune out suckering will vie for dominance. Try to thin them
from the base, and also water sprouts out to 3 or 5 shoots maximum, allowing
32 Discover Smith Mountain Lake SPRING 2021
