From London Road Station Partnership
Posted on January 17, 2022 by londonrdstationpartnership
Our mini-orchard is coming up for ten years old! It’s hard to believe that we planted our cordonned fruit trees – four apples and two pears – back in March 2012. They’ve done well and given us lots of fruit, particularly the pears.
The last couple of years we’ve faced a few challenges. Because of lockdowns and restrictions, we’ve not always been able to get in to prune and/or tend to them in January-February and July-August, which are key moments. We’ve also had serious attacks of rosy aphids, woolly aphids leading to leaf curl; a couple of the trees have been affected by canker but we’ve managed to cut out affected wood. And this year, we had reports of somebody reaching over to harvest several bags worth of our precious pears. We hope they were enjoyed – some have tried picking them before they are ripe – but would obviously prefer for this not to happen!
But the trees have really grown, now requiring a tall ladder to prune the tops. The top left photo shows them before pruning this January. I finally got around last week to doing winter pruning (normally reserved for renovating the shape of the trees). The other photos show the cordons looking a little like shorn sheep after pruning.
Forget about the usual advice to cut back all laterals to three or four buds – our cordons are trying really hard to be proper grown-up apple trees. I’ve managed to cut back the leader stems to the top of our wires and to then try to cut the laterals so that we don’t have any growing forward and weak growth is pruned. It’s always a bit hit and miss … our trees just don’t look like the pruning advice pictures!
I don’t find it easy cutting back our beloved trees but previous years’ experience does suggest it’s for the best. I’ve covered the major cuts with a wound sealant and at least this year, we should be able to monitor the trees for any infestations as they come into bud. Fingers crossed!
Southdown Rise Residents Association 