My First Prune Job

[Jumper]

Well I spent yesterday afternoon giving my 16 year old crab apple its first pruning, and am pleased with the result. My boss said he would drop by to give it an assessment, but I really would like to read more on this: Can anyone recommend the definative book I should consult, or is there a web site you can suggest. Essentially I am self taught, having been the ground guy for numerous prunings over the past six months. Essentially I climbed up, took out the branches that were rubbing on others, those that were weirdly contorted or really ugly, all the branches /suckers that were growing staight up into the crown, and some of the remainder, about 1 in 4. Also took out a 35 foot Norway Maple in pieces with out dropping it onto the house, or me falling out of the tree or off the roof in the process: I felt bad about removing it, as it was a beautiful tree, but it was too close to the foundation, and I only paid C$20 for it years ago when I first moved in. Anyway, a learning process and good when you can do it on your own trees.

 

[Jumper]

My job must have been OK because this afternoon found me 25 feet up in a customer's large crab doing the same thing. An experience! I knew V. was going to get me up in a tree sooner or later, sooner than I thought.