Fruit Tree Pruning

Local orchardist, Peter Bixby, will help us learn the skill of pruning our fruit trees - some of which he helped us graft in the first place!

In this workshop, we will begin with a short discussion with slides about the basic ideas behind pruning (why do it at all, how does it work with the trees' biology, what are the key decisions you need to make?). We will also discuss training techniques, which are ways of shaping the tree without necessarily cutting it. We will then spend most of the rest of the workshop with demonstrations and guided practice on the trees in Peter's orchard, working with both pruning and training techniques.

For those who might be interested in doing some grafting, the scion wood we prune off the trees will be available to take home. Trees range from sapling size to full grown, and we work with the full range, though the full grown trees will provide more hands on opportunities.

COST: sliding scale of $25-40. A nonrefundable $10 deposit will hold your place, with the remainder due at the class, cash or check please.

PRESENTER: Peter Bixby raises a large portion of his family's food in their homestead garden and orchard in Dover. He has been gardening organically since the early 1990s, and started a small home orchard when he and Jessica moved to Dover in 1997. While some people are addicted to getting more and more tatoos, and at some point start wondering how they can fit any more, Peter keeps acquiring new and different apples and other fruits, often from scion wood that he grafts onto rootstock. He has been pruning his trees since he started the orchard, and is happy to share his expertise and have people practice, with guidance, on his trees, which vary in age from a couple years to a decade and a half. He is also the primary family cook, at home parent, a sometime freelance editor, and a NH state representative.