{"id":134775,"date":"2023-01-09T15:12:43","date_gmt":"2023-01-09T20:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=134775"},"modified":"2023-01-09T15:12:43","modified_gmt":"2023-01-09T20:12:43","slug":"tis-the-season-to-prune-fruit-trees-local-orchardist-offers-instruction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/tis-the-season-to-prune-fruit-trees-local-orchardist-offers-instruction\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Tis the season to prune fruit trees: local orchardist offers instruction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Late winter into early spring is the best time to prune fruit trees in temperate regions like coastal British Columbia, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.almanac.com\/when-prune-trees-and-shrubs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Old Farmer's Almanac<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\"Plant health is the primary reason for pruning. Look for the 4 \"Ds\"\u2014dead, dying, diseased, or damaged branches\u2014these should be removed. Also look for spindly or weak growth, as well as any branches that are crossed or rubbing,\" the Almanac article suggests.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_134786\" style=\"width: 297px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-134786\" class=\"wp-image-134786 size-thumbnail-canadainfo-post\" src=\"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/IMG_7599-287x215.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a green sweater stands beside a fruit tree with bare branches.\" width=\"287\" height=\"215\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/IMG_7599-287x215.jpg 287w, https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/IMG_7599-500x375.jpg 500w, https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/IMG_7599.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 287px) 100vw, 287px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-134786\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bill Wheeler has 12 fruit-bearing trees in his own orchard, where he successfully deterred an apple maggot infestation last year. Photo by Anastasia Avvakumova.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Local orchardist Bill Wheeler has been working with trees for three decades and explained that while a tree will grow and produce fruit without pruning of any kind, skillful cuts can promote tree vigour and yield.<\/p>\n<p>However, it takes time to observe the effect pruning has on trees, as it's usually done just once a year and trees grow slowly. Therefore, learning the skills can also be a slow process.<\/p>\n<p>\"Every tree is different, and the history of every tree is different,\" Wheeler says, adding that specific trees in one's backyard may look nothing like the illustration in a book on pruning.<\/p>\n<p>This winter, he is offering a four session course that will demonstrate the basic premises of pruning in orchards around Cortes Island. To learn more, contact cmbw@twincomm.ca.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Listen to the CKTZ interview with orchardist and carpenter Bill Wheeler below:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Late winter into early spring is the best time to prune fruit trees in temperate regions like coastal British Columbia, according to The Old Farmer&#8217;s Almanac. &#8220;Plant health is the primary reason for pruning. Look for the 4 &#8220;Ds&#8221;\u2014dead, dying, diseased, or damaged branches\u2014these should be removed. Also look for spindly or weak growth, as&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":134788,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[221,222],"tags":[12650,314,19176,22252],"radio":[252],"origine":[280,266,231],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134775"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134775"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135137,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134775\/revisions\/135137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134775"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=134775"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=134775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}