Summer Orchard Care and Pruning
July 18 @ 10:00 am – 11:30 am
The warm days of summer come with a list of tasks that fruit tree owners need to tackle in order to produce a bountiful harvest of great quality fruit and to keep their trees manageable and in good health. On Saturday, July 18th from 10-11:30 a.m. the Clallam County Master Gardeners are featuring Summer Orchard Care and Pruning at the Woodcock Demonstration Garden.
CCMG Presenters Keith Dekker & Tom del Hotal will open the session with a presentation and Q&A session addressing watering, fertilizing, pest control and summer pruning principles. The second portion of the day will take participants into the Woodcock orchard where Tom and Keith will further explain summer pruning and answer questions with hands-on demonstrations on a range of fruit trees.
Pruning in summer is entirely different from winter pruning. Pruning in summer limits growth, while pruning in winter stimulates growth. Summer pruning keeps the size of fruit trees manageable and their fruits more accessible come harvest time. It also reduces the amount of pruning needed during the winter pruning season and usually creates smaller wounds on the tree. Other summer pruning objectives include repairing damage, improving light penetration, and strengthening leggy branches.
Keith is a 50-year veteran in the field of horticulture, the last 35 in western Washington. He moved to Sequim from Seattle and became a Master Gardener here in 2017. His experience includes garden centers, nurseries, greenhouses and commercial landscape maintenance.
A Certified Arborist, Tom began his 40-year career as a horticulturist and nurseryman. For much of that time, Tom also owned and operated a fruit tree specialty nursery providing orchard design and fruit tree management services. Tom recently celebrated his 5th anniversary as a Clallam County Master Gardener. He also is president of The Olympic Orchard Society.
The goal for Summer Orchard Care and Pruning is to bring participants greater knowledge to optimize the growth and productivity of their fruit trees for this season and the longer term. This session is designed to build their confidence in approaching the task, whether on their own or in hiring a professional.
MG Digging Deeper presentations are free, open to all, no registration required, so feel free to bring an interested friend or neighbor. Presentations are outdoors, so dress for the weather.
