a.k.a. REAL FARMER STUFF 😉

I was equal parts excited and dreading pruning the apple trees. I knew it needed to be done, or shall I say, I was pretty sure that’s what people did, but I had no idea how to do it myself. When we moved in last year we had been really excited about the two apple trees in the yard but the crop ended up being extremely disappointing – the apples were mealy and inedible raw and mostly fell off the tree before they really looked ready. I did end up peeling a bunch and baking them, which turned out well, so at least they were not wasted. So during the winter I did a quick online search about how and when to prune apple trees and then waited patiently until the season was upon me. Then I almost missed it altogether as temperatures went from -20 to +15 within a few days in early March. Oops! But lucky me, Mother Nature was not yet done with winter. When I was walking by the trees one day I also noticed some round orange spots on the branches and looked that up – thanks Google Lens. Coral Spot! The trees had a fungus. Yuck. That definitely has to go.

So I picked a sunny cold day in March and out I went with my pruning shears. I had found a few gardening websites that had given me the basic information on what had to go, and then I looked up most of those terms to figure out what they were, haha. My mission was to remove ALL the coral spot fungus, pruning the branch off a couple inches below the fungus, plus remove dead branches, water sprouts, suckers, crossing branches and try to keep a few healthy main branches. Once I got going I realized the trees were wildly overgrown, so I suspect they had not been pruned in a year or two – I took a TON off! Turns out it’s actually quite fun. I was bolstered by my sister-in-law commenting while I was trimming that it was looking good, and I was doing it correctly leaving the main trunk and 3-4 healthy large branches. She’s a proper farmer so it was quite a pat on the back 🙂 Thanks Andrea!

I ended up getting Thomas out to take a chainsaw to a few of the larger branches that needed to go – my little pruning shears were no match for them. I had to take quite a bit to get rid of the fungus but I am optimistic that I got it all – I check every time I walk past and have not seen any yet. Fingers crossed! Lucky for me the weather has been on my side as well and we have had a few weeks more of winter so the trees have had a chance to rest and get ready for their upcoming season.

I am hopeful and curious to see how the crop this year is – maybe between pruning and getting rid of the fungus the apples will be crisp and juicy this year. Update to follow after harvest!