Trimming Fruit Trees and Grape Vines

in #homesteading7 years ago

The other day I saw a great post from @beatitudes8 and @papa-pepper on pruning fruit trees. I don't want to duplicate the information I just want to share a few pictures of our trees before and after.

I am doing this post because the first time I pruned are trees back harshly I thought for sure they would die and produce nothing. This was not the case in fact they grew wonderful and put on an abundance of fruit.

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I trimmed a total of 9 trees and removed 5 wheel barrow loads of wood. This picture shows how all pieces were cut to fit in the wheel barrow.

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The grape we are trimming today is a Bronze muscadine. This vine has been growing for 3 years and produced 5 lbs of grapes for us to eat last year.

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This is the pile of vines from the trimming.

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After the hair trimming...

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And I found 2 little gifts while trimming, not the lambs. :)

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These 2 vines rooted which will fit nicely in the vineyard since the deer killed 2 last year. Amazing how the Lord provides!

Each year we have issues with a worm or bug getting a hole in our fruit. We currently only use soap and a little oil in a sprayer to offer some protection for the fruit. I would really like to hear from others what they are using to protect their fruit from worms/bugs. After all we want healthy fruit but each year we only get 1/2 or less of a harvest due to the bugs/worms. Any info would be greatly appreciated in this area!!

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That's a wonderful effort you doing. Prunning didn't come easy. I so much appreciate such updates and hope to see how they develop

Thank you, we will post again to show how thinks come out. Most of the trees are 5 years old so they should do well.

Wow. Wish you success
Have you tried banana 🍌 peel tea? Updated on it's uses 👌
Good for the cold season 😎

Interesting, I plan to look it up. Thank you!

Welcome as always 😏

Yes that is such a blessing! I don't sweat what nature eats, we both get fed.

I agree with you overall, it is just hard to give away 50% or more with so little up front. But like you said it could be worse, nothing!!

Not a sparrow falls without God knowing...

Thanks for sharing, @shalomacres! I just ordered a book on eBay about pruning, and it should be here soon. I am really looking forward to getting it so that I can better learn how to take care of our trees and such. We got a big load of them coming from the Missouri Department of Conservation, so I need to learn how to take care of them!

As to the loss, I have no experience, so I don't know how to help. Maybe in a few years! (Not that that helps you now.)

Great news on getting a good number of trees from the state. Good deals, not sure if you have a guardian dog or something to keep the deer away. If you don't have any grapes coming you may want to get some, they can be over looked on a homestead and they produce long before fruit trees.

Looks great! you did well trimming that grape vine- sure had a lot to cut off ;)

Thank you - I messed up the first year and had been slowing trying to recover. Our new grape area is much improved, such is life!