Rosalind
Deeply Rooted
I have many apple trees in my orchard that had been badly chewed by deer before I installed the fence. Some were rare varieties that are no longer offered anywhere, yet there were sparks of life left, so I kept them. Quality bittersharp cider apples, without a hint of sugar, are really really hard to find.
After two years of fussing, fertilizing, mulching, wrapping, wassailing, spraying and pleading, some came back. Unfortunately, they came back as 100% watersprouts.
Given the trees' history, I was not about to trim off these watersprouts in February. It wasn't as if there were any more productive branches left, those had all been eaten by The Great Venison Invasion.
Cracking open my elderly botany books, I found that watersprouts are caused by gibberellin production due to cold temps, such as the long chilly spring/summer we just had. I could spray TBZ to inhibit the gibberellins, or I could figure out a natural way to inhibit gibberellin production.
Gibberellins are produced in root nodules, especially in leguminous plants; plants nearby legumes, such as fruit trees with clover ground covers underneath, can be sensitive to gibberellins produced by the clover. So if you, say, dump a wheelbarrow-load of pine shaving/chicken litter around the dripline, this will provide adequate nitrogen for the tree, smother the clover right there, keep the roots warmish, and acidulate the top layer of soil just enough to keep the root nodules from getting too frisky in a single year.
Also, I trimmed off just the last 2 inches of watersprout to remove the source of auxins and encourage side growth from these crummy branches.
Amazingly, my watersprouts have, this year, become reasonable-looking branches with lotsa little twigs and spurs. In other words, I'm looking forward to fruit from them now. Hopefully I can lay off the chicken litter mulch if we have a decently warm summer, and the clover will supply enough nitrogen once more.
After two years of fussing, fertilizing, mulching, wrapping, wassailing, spraying and pleading, some came back. Unfortunately, they came back as 100% watersprouts.
Given the trees' history, I was not about to trim off these watersprouts in February. It wasn't as if there were any more productive branches left, those had all been eaten by The Great Venison Invasion.
Cracking open my elderly botany books, I found that watersprouts are caused by gibberellin production due to cold temps, such as the long chilly spring/summer we just had. I could spray TBZ to inhibit the gibberellins, or I could figure out a natural way to inhibit gibberellin production.
Gibberellins are produced in root nodules, especially in leguminous plants; plants nearby legumes, such as fruit trees with clover ground covers underneath, can be sensitive to gibberellins produced by the clover. So if you, say, dump a wheelbarrow-load of pine shaving/chicken litter around the dripline, this will provide adequate nitrogen for the tree, smother the clover right there, keep the roots warmish, and acidulate the top layer of soil just enough to keep the root nodules from getting too frisky in a single year.
Also, I trimmed off just the last 2 inches of watersprout to remove the source of auxins and encourage side growth from these crummy branches.
Amazingly, my watersprouts have, this year, become reasonable-looking branches with lotsa little twigs and spurs. In other words, I'm looking forward to fruit from them now. Hopefully I can lay off the chicken litter mulch if we have a decently warm summer, and the clover will supply enough nitrogen once more.
