POP TIPS: pruning time & new POP pruning video series!

[Phil Forsyth]

Philly Orchardists,

Orchard pruning season 2022 has arrived!  See information and resources below and please register to join one of our upcoming pruning workshops (2/5 at Learning Farm and 3/5 at Bartram's Garden): 

https://www.phillyorchards.org/events/

We are also very excited to announce that POP has just published a brand new set of pruning videos on our YouTube channel:  

POP Pruning Video Playlist

The calendar and the cold tell us that it's time again for pruning fruit trees, berry bushes, and fruiting vines.  It is important to prune most fruiting plants every winter, regardless of their age!  Essentially everything except peaches are best pruned while dormant, between now and mid March.  

Here is a quick list of the reasons for annual pruning:

1. open all parts of tree to sunlight
2. increase air circulation
3. improve quality, quantity & consistency of harvest
4. prevent infection and spread of disease
5. create good structure to support fruit
6. avoid breakage from poor branch angles
7. control size for easier harvest
8. ensure penetration of sprays
9. stimulate vegetative growth

In addition to our new video series, You can find POP's full fruit tree pruning guide on our website:

http://www.phillyorchards.org/2016/01/21/pop-pruning-guide-fruit-trees/

And here's our guide to pruning berry bushes and fruiting vines:

https://www.phillyorchards.org/2016/03/08/pruning-bushes-brambles-and-vines/

I've also attached a printable version of the POP Pruning Guide.  

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR POP ORCHARDS: We are again offering pruning training visits to all our orchard partners that need assistance.  Please contact your lead POP staff support sooner than later if you'd like to set up a pruning day at your site.  With 66 orchard sites and counting, if you wait too long to contact us, we may run out of days to help you!  

For those of you who plan to accomplish your annual pruning on your own, note that a variety of pruning tools is available for borrowing through the West Philly Tool Library:  

http://westphillytools.org/

For POP volunteers, if you'd like to gain more experience with pruning and help out at some of our POP orchard partner sites, please sign up for our Orchard Committee email list.  Best way to learn is hands-on!  

Note: in order to assist with pruning, we expect you to have attended a previous POP pruning workshop or at the very least, have read the attached pruning guide in full.  Other than the pruning workshops, most pruning sessions are held on weekdays.  

Happy pruning all!   

Phil Forsyth, Co-Executive Director

Philadelphia Orchard Project

www.phillyorchards.org

215-724-1247

Pronouns: he/him

"66 community orchards, 1562 fruit trees, and growing!"