I have a homestead in Kansas. 14 fruit tress. Cherry, apple, peach, pear. Just did a huge pruning this morning. Get in there and get the dead, weak branches out. Anything that crosses in canopy. Don’t be afraid. Your trees will love it!
I was just saying to myself last evening that I need to prune my citrus trees, but needed to wait till the winter dormancy period, then this video comes out with awesome timing as usual!
I heavily prune my apricot tree about every 2 years in the week after harvesting the fruit. A. Raise the canopy back up to 7-8 feet. B. Remove crossed branches. C. Restore inner air flow D. Top the tree at about 13 feet (where I can reach on a 6 foot step ladder. This year, this activity also removed 75% of a massive aphid infestation.
I’m going to greatly enjoy watching your orchard grow. It’s been inspiring to watch you over the last year (started during quarantine). I don’t have the space or skills for anything more than some containers but I love learning from you. Because of you, last fall I gave growing garlic a try. I decided not to be hung up on getting the right seed garlic since it was just an experiment in an old container I had. I stuck 4 cloves (from a grocery store bulb that had sprouted) into a container with some potting soil in early November. Pretty much ignored them after that. I now have 4 small bulbs curing on my screen porch. They’re not brag-worthy and yet I’m very proud of them!
Did the same thing essentially with some wrinkly potatoes I found at a friends house. Just harvested 2 kinds of potatoes. I am so proud. In the process of attempting to buy a house in this insane market, so it could be a while, but I can’t wait to get my own productive garden going. I live in a similar climate to the lovely Mr. Dowding here in the PNW, and I am so excited to give his methods a try. Will probably do some container gardening as well.
@@TamarLitvot yeah, I also got a couple self watering plastic from the same friend and used that. Not an ideal container for potatoes to grow in, not even 12” of vertical space to grow, but still got a harvest. The potatoes did have sprouts, weren’t just wrinkly, and I also used a few inches of mulch on top to keep the sun off the tubers. Kevin had several potato videos for much better advice.
hey, just wanna to take a second to appreciate the effort put into all of this. it’s inspired me to start my own garden and already have food ! also the more informal videos do just right there not lead you in the wrong direction and give you a better general understanding, which is very helpful
Great video! Thanks for the shout out for Dave Wilson’s Nursery channel. I went there right after I saw your video. Such great information on home orchard style pruning. I used to be so afraid to prune. Now I’m confident about managing tree size with a good summer prune! On my to do list is pruning off the fruit from my baby lime tree. Sad but I know she’ll have fruit for us next year!!
Bro, this is a great vid on pruning. Nice work! A note to remember in hot climates like ours is to avoid cutting out too much of the interior (which you DIDN'T do excesssively). Those leaves do a great job protecting your inner trunk and scaffolding from sunburn. Your trees are looking great! 👏
In my old desert garden, I never had to prune my tomatoes(semi wild Ciudad Victoria), but now that I'm in 7a at 7000 feet, the leaves were not letting my indigo cherry ones ripen. The plant looks scraggly but the tomatoes are definitely ripening faster!
thanks kevin :) just bought my first fruit tree (mission fig) and she's in the ground now but i'm planning on getting a lot more! very informative and hilarious as always ty for the content
I just pruned a bunch of my plants yesterday. Thank you for your emotional support while I did the unthinkable (you must have known I would hit the like button). 😆😆
Good to know. We have an apple tree, my son planted 16 years ago,growing in a pot. It is in a 30 gallon oak barrel now and has just fruited the first time ever. I did just learn how to dormant season prune, but this should help too. This tree is getting way too big.
Summer pruning an apple tree may cause it to not flower the next season. The buds will push out leaves not flowers. If it's that old of a tree that is now just fruiting, feed it some bone meal and then prune no more than 30% of the top when it's dormant. Not all fruit trees respond to pruning the same. I know because I've done it and that's what happened,skipped a year of apples on that tree. Cherries and other stone fruits no problem
Thanks for the info. I just finally removed the mesh bags that were protecting our young fruit trees from the Cicadas (Brood X). I was wondering if I can prune off the damaged branches that suffered from being confined in the mesh bags for so many weeks. This video was so helpful!
I used to prune my desert trees in Phoenix, because the growing season makes so much weight, that storms will rip them out of the ground or break off branches. I saw my peach trees(new to me), getting too big and heavy. It just seemed natural to nip off new low branches, and sacrifice the lower fruit or ones out on long branches. I also cleared out the interior crowded branches, so I could reach the higher fruit. Seems like I did the right thing. Gonna nip some more in the fall, once the leaves fall.🤞
"Personal emotional support" ... lolol ... OMG, just love your sense of humor. Loquat - I grew up with these in central FL. As well as a number of citrus trees. As kids, we loved to steal the fruit from neighbors. Those trees got massive .. and, subsequently, diseased. For your entire orchard, will live through you vicariously.
Kevin: "...so I might run around with this (Long Reach Cut 'n' Hold Pruner)." Much safer than running with scissors. ;) Great video. Great tips. I'm taking a third of my Owari satsumas this weekend. It's still young - fourth season - and setting ~80 fruit.
Yes plant daddy, bless me with that emotional support! I just trimmed up some of the blueberry bushes that are just starting to have ripe blueberries (don’t know the variety, came with the property)
I see some avocado trees and some papayas! Looking forward to that and I really like the videos where you show us what you get and just name them all. :)
Thanks for your videos. I'm learning a lot from you. We have cherries, apples, a pearl, and an apricot tree next to few walnut trees. They're all getting so tall. I can't harvest the top anymore. Is it OK to cut some of the big branches from the top after the harvesting season?
Great vid, as usual! Our loquat tree is over 20 ft tall! The former owners shaped it into a shade tree...which isn't really that helpful when you actually want to be able to reach the loquats to eat them (and I'm only 5 ft tall). Sigh. Oh, and as a CA Master Gardener, I wanted to say that we don't recommend ever pruning apricot (or cherry) trees during the dormant period because of the risk of Eutypa dieback. We only recommend summer pruning for those types of trees.
The best pruning idea I ever saw was an old gardener that I knew. He let trees go to a max height of his height plus his three-step stepladder. He had a great eye for shape too.
Noooooooo! I just recorded the same video idea yesterday! I went super heavy tho on my summer prune. My trees were really big and hadn’t been taken care of by the previous owner. Good video and great info, makes me not want to make mine now.
@@epicgardening thank you that’s reassuring, I think I cover one thing you didn’t, that makes me fell good that it won’t feel the exact same. You’re welcome to come up to Fallbrook and do a HEAVY time on my loquat plus i could give you that farm tour…
Thank you for the very insightful video. Will definitely put your advice to good use. Have you considered growing Australian Finger Lime? It might do well in your climate (long hot summers).
We have a you peach tree. This should have been it’s first fruit year but last year we transplanted it from its whiskey barrel into the ground. So no fruit this year. It’s putting on LOTS of new growth but they are all growing straight up the middle and it’s getting quite crowded. I was worried about pruning some of it out now. This made me think maybe I should.
Hi from 🇸🇪 You are SO GREAT!! Thank you for everything!! I found your channel a few weeks ago and I am looking at all your videos and have learned more in these weeks than in my whole life! 🤍 I also follow you on Instagram 😁 One thought on this video tho 🙃 It would be lovely with more closeups so that we can see more :) maybe a friend can help you film when pruning specifically? 🙂 Thanks again!!!
I hard prune my mulberry down to bare bones in April (northern lower Michigan) to keep it manageable for my 5ft2 self. When the heat hits it, it bursts into this crazy topiary and a few months later it's packed full of mulberries. Pruning is a necessary evil 😏
What you say is true. I had some new citrus like the size you showed and removed all the fruit. By the next year, it doubled in size. The large water catcher you show at the end of the video, did you paint it black? And how is it connected to catch water? Water catching may be a subject for a video. Thanks have a great day.
This is perfect for me. I just started pruning my apricot and loquat tree. Rats were getting to the ripe loquats before I could but a bunch are still ripening; I even bagged a branch and they chewed through the bag. Is there a way to tell where loquats will flower? Not sunny/warm enough to produce sweet apricots but got maybe 30-40 this year. The tree is incredibly tall with branches reaching way too far out so I’m being aggressive with the pruning.
I need to prune my cherry tree. It's the first year it's bearing fruit and I'm a novice at this. It's getting too big and crowded and I want to manage it abit so going to prune a little now and then again in September for winter I think. Thanks.
You can do it! Citrus doesn't need the same type of pruning as deciduous trees. You mainly prune citrus for shape and size - think of it like a shrub. You can let it grow!
So I know that each kind of fruit tree you have is it's only one in the garden, but as I've known you always need another flowering tree of the same kind in order to pollinate and start the fruiting process. How is it that your individual fruit trees are being pollinated and fruiting? Is it because they are all citrus and that's close enough for it to pollinate?
My apricot tree is lanky and not bushy. Has lots of tall branches but no flowers or fruits. I can tell the tree is trying to reach for sunshine (located near a wall with no sunshine in the morning. Should I prune it? It's about 7 ft tall. Thank you
I'm living in MN (zone 4 B). I got some Asian pear trees. I watched a lot of clips about pruning. I'm confusing about that. What's different between summer pruning and winter pruning? which one for more fruit and which one for shape
My prune tree is done for the season, and is extremely tall, can I do more of an aggressive prune? Where do I start? Also, is worm castings good for raised beds?
Hello. I recently found your channel, and I got hooked from the beginning and being new to gardening you sure have helped me a lot. I’ve been playing catch up on your old videos, especially the worm bag. Are you still using it? And I have some questions before I purchase such a big priced item. Who do I ask? I also do not do social media. Just a lot of U tube. Also considering your book. Thanks for all you share.
Pruned my apple tree a few years ago. The year I pruned it, regular amount harvested. Year after that, nothing. This year, its just totally insane how many apples I have.
Hello, I live in Sacramento, I bought 3 apple trees from Green Acres several month’s ago (spring) I planted them following directions on how to properly plant them, however; there’s no leaves on them. Please Help! Thank you!
I recently pruned all the fruit trees in my new yard, and was wondering if the timing was right? (they had been let go a few years before I got here) Thank You Kevin!
Epic Loquat! Is it a Big Jim? The Atemoya I planted this spring keeps trying to set fruit but I won't let it. After a transplant shock where it dropped all its leaves, It is much more important for it to focus on root and leaf structure in the coming years.
Great video as always,. lots of great information which has helped me transform my backyard into a nice garden. I do have a question, which are the best plants to cover walls/fences with? you think it's a bad idea to cover walls/fences with plants?
We have some WAAAAY overgrown cherry trees that came with the property that I’d like to prune back to a manageable size. How much is too much to prune down in any given pruning session or year, surely lopping off 1/2 the length of all the branches can’t be good. These guys are massive (like 15-18 feet tall) Ideas/suggestions?
Hrm I’ve definitely made the mistake of not pruning off early fruit from a young lemon tree. It only produced one fruit the whole year. However, probably could have set it up for more success if I had clipped it off.
So I found out that I have been growing a hallucinogenic flower for years, besides morning glories that is....Datura Innoxia (aka. Jimsonweed, Downy Thorn Apple) is a gorgeous large flower trumpet shaped flower that pollinators and hummingbirds alike really enjoy. They are completely legal to own and cultivate but the plant produces a chemical that makes a person trip out like on acid. Every part can get a person high, root stem, leaf, flower, seed or nectar... Obviously I'm not growing it for nefarious purposes but i thought it was a nifty little factoid about a plant I love.
I have 2 peach, 2 apple & 2 lemon trees. They are all from seeds planted a year ago. Should I be concerned at all with pruning now or wait until they're old enough to produce fruit? I love your Videos! Thank you for your time & info.
Kevin what is that monster looking tomato plant next to this apricot tree that has like a gazillion flowers?!?! Will give you lots of tomato love this Summer and totally stole the show :)
I have a cherry three i prune it every year (3years of pruning 5yezrs old tree). But this year it s going taller so i lost lots of cherry cause couldnt cut the big branches. 👋👋👋👋😊😊😊😊🍒🍒🍒🍒