Part 4 of Stephen Hayes Fruitwise videos about pruning apple trees.
Looking at the pruning saw, more important than the secteurs. Needs to be sharp or else not fit for purpose. Cut on the back stroke. Japanese silky fox. Removing a branch which is to low, to show how to use the saw. Not touching the tree. Stabalise by holding the branch. It goes right through in two cuts. Definitive pruning cut up against the collar.
Part three of Stephen Hayes video series “The Fruitwise guide to pruning apple trees”
Spur pruning. Fruit buds turn into spurs after a few years then get crowded. Overgrown spur systems need to be thinned. Cut out the lower groups to produce only 3 or 4 apples per system instead of 8 or 9
Cider houses are usually caserios – or country houses- mostly located in Gipuzkoa, which have facilities for the preparation and bottling of cider, and a space for the “kupelas” (barrels) and long tables where patrons can taste the specialities (cod omelette, fried cod with green peppers, and barbecued steak).
The season begins in January and finishes mid-April. During these months, it has become a tradition for the Basque people to come to these cider temples to practice the “txotx” ritual, which is extremely beautiful and peculiar: the owner of the cider house chooses a kupela (barrel) and he yells out “txotx”, thus inviting all those attending to taste the cider. Consumption of cider is unlimited.
In the second video of his series, Stephen Hayes talks about buying the best secateurs, and using secateurs to prune lateral branches on an apple tree.
Thinning out spur systems. Felco number 8 secateurs. Fruiting lateral from a medium sized branch off the main trunk. Pruning for fruit and balance. Upward and outward facing branch. Snip out fruit buds underneath. Each bud is potentially capable of producing 4 apples. The branch will be weighed down to the ground. Cut up against the bud with the blade next to the wood. Remove excessive numbers of fruiting spurs.
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