Hedging your bets (or betting your hedges)

Q & A

Posted on August 13th, 2008 by julian

7 Responses to “Q & A”

nigelw Says:
August 13th, 2008 at 10:28 pm

thanks for the email about pruning cordon fruit in august - great service and really useful

sorry to be thick but do i prune my other fruit trees now as well?

cheers
nige



julian Says:
August 14th, 2008 at 12:54 am

Nothing thick about it. The thing to remember with cordons, espaliers, fans and forms like step-overs is that one is trying to keep them relatively small. The ideal shape is tight/compact with loads of fruiting spurs.

When a tree goes into dormancy in the autumn, the sap falls back into the roots where it forms an initial food supply for the plants growth in spring. Fruit trees grown as cordons are on semi-vigorous root-stocks the ensure they have enough ooomff to crop heavily on a small frame. Pruning before the sap falls makes sure the tree does not have too much energy in the spring and so prevents it from outgrowing its shape.

By contrast you want bush and standard forms to grow big; therefore they are pruned in winter when removing top-growth does not reduce the food supply of the tree. By the way I looked up your order with us, and unless you have other fruit trees nearby, you may want to take a look at our guide to Fruit Tree Pollination to make sure you have the trees you need for everything to crop….

Best
Julian



MargaretF Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 1:29 pm

Thank you for the advice on pruning my cordon pears - I had just asked a
gardener at Harlow Carr and your advice was better!! However I do have a
problem with a disease or fungus on a Comice which bears no fruit.
The Conference has fruit and has now also got the dreaded black spots.
The Comice also seems to be plagued by aphids!

I hope that you can offer advice for the remedy.

Thanks
Margaret



Julian Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 1:53 pm

Thanks for your email and pictures.

I have a couple of pieces of advice, but also a question or two.

It has been a terrible year for two things on fruit - fungal conditions and insects - the rain is wonderful for fungi and bad for the small birds that prey on insects….

So:

1. It is necessary to practice good hygiene if you have a pest. In autumn, rake up and burn or otherwise destroy (but do not compost) the leaves off your pear trees. Also burn any prunings. In early to mid-winter, on a dry day when the temperature is above freezing, spray your pears with a tar oil wash. This will kill most/all overwintering bugs and eggs. In spring, keep a close eye on the new foliage as it emerges and be ready to spray with an insecticide containing permethrin or pyrethrum is you see the aphids coming back. Do this early before their numbers have built up.1

2. As far as the spotting on the leaves is concerned, from the photos this looks fungal. Spray with a fungicide such as Bio Dithane 945 (containing mancozeb). Do that on a dry day now, and repeat when the new leaves are out in the spring.

Now a couple of questions about fruiting.

A Conference will pollinate a Comice and vice versa, so there should not be a pollination problem. Since the Conference has fruit, it clearly flowered - did the Comice?

(Trees often “sulk” in the year they are planted).If it did not flower, it ought to next spring, and there will be fruit in the summer.

If it did flower, did any baby fruitlets set? If not, the most likely explanation is that, because a Comice starts flowering later than a Conference, the appalling wet weather we had in the spring simply washed the pollen away from the Conference before the bees could do their job. The next possibility is that (you may have seen on the news) - this has been a catastrophic year for bees. There have been very few about and there are complaints from fruit farmers all over the country about poor crops…. We also have a couple of fairly severe late frosts - these can damage blossom and cause pollen to fail.

I hope this helps, please let me know if there is anything else we can do.

Best
Julian



des Says:
May 6th, 2009 at 6:17 pm

i have in march 09 planted a one metre high conference pear tree and the small leaves produced on it are turning inward on the edges and turning black around the outer edges,what could it be and can it be treated or would it be better to remove and replace it as i have plum and apple trees near to it.
des



Edward Says:
May 10th, 2009 at 10:49 am

Hi Des,

Without a photo, I can only guess that the tree is stressed - plants came out of their winter dormancy early this year and your tree may be objecting to being moved while it was half awake. Make sure that it is watered well but not constantly drowned - a thorough soaking once or twice a week is better than a daily drink.

If this is a newly bought tree (one of ours?) it is extremely unlikely that it has fireblight. Have a search for fireblight images to see how it looks.

Please do email us a photo so we can give you our opinion.



Edward Says:
May 10th, 2009 at 10:51 am

Email Julian: julianREM@ashridgetrees.co.uk (remove the letters in capitals in the email address before sending).

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