Restoring an apple tree, watershoot video 4

[samivirta]

Hello Stephen eagerly waiting for this years update on The watershoot tree ;-)

[stephenhayesuk]

@samivirta You'll love it. There is a heavy crop of Branml.ey apples on a well shaped tree. I will film something and post soon, too busy this week

[TK42138]

Interesting video and I've learnt something about fruit tree pruning - brilliant!

[ggmorvaj]

I don't know of any better source of practical fruit growing advice, anywhere. Especially these "work in progress" ones. They're so valuable, priceless,in fact. Thank you so much for sharing all of these videos.

[stephenhayesuk]

@ggmorvaj very kind of you to say so my friend. To me, this sot of tree restoration work seems nothing very special, but I suppose I have been studying apple trees for 20 years so what seems obvious to me perhaps comes from long study and experience. I appreciate youtube giving me the opportunity to pass the knowledge on and I really appreciate the positive feedback, without which I wouldn't bother.

There are differing views about how to do some of these things, but the camera does not lie!

[JonDenton]

Hi Stephen, Great video as usual. Learning new things all the time.

What are you using to clear the ground around the tree base. I am assuming some form of weedkiller. I appreciate you do not name specific chemicals you use, but any advice on product family and time of application would be very useful as i do not want to kill my trees. Cheers Jon

[JonDenton]

Hi Stephen, Great video as usual. Learning new things all the time.

What are you using to clear the ground around the tree base. I am assuming some form of weedkiller. I appreciate you do not name specific chemicals you use, but any advice on product family and time of application would be very useful as i do not want to kill my trees. Cheers Jon

[stephenhayesuk]

@JonDenton Thanks. I won't mention specific insecticides or fungicides, NOT that we are doing anything illegal-we are not-but pesticide application is SO highly regulated I might get into trouble if I gave unauthorised instruction.

However, I can safely say that we use glyphosate (Roundup) to control weeds and grass around the trees. this is an extremely safe herbicide which is non toxic and non persistent. Just keep away from ponds and streams. Always read the label and obey all regulations

[JonDenton]

@stephenhayesuk Thanks Stephen, keep up the great work !

[MadBadVoodo]

Thumbs Up my Friend!

[andrewnorris1]

Thanks for posting this follow up. I had been following the progress of this tree and it is wonderful to see such progress. One can feel that removing 2 thirds of those shoots is somewhat drastic but here is the evidence that trees can survive such radical pruning, and having fruit buds on the present year's growth. Please keep us posted with further progress later in the year.

[TheChalkychalk]

Thank you so much for you imforative vides.

[TheChalkychalk]

@TheChalkychalk Video sorry for my bad typing :)

[WillEyedOney]

the tree has 'character' :)

[Teorispa]

Oh great, I wondered about how this tree was doing and to be honest I expected there would be a lot of shoots this year as well. Live and learn. Nice to see your project doing so well.

[Ccoach55]

have you ever spread disease with your shears? how would you make sure this does not happen?

[stephenhayesuk]

@Ccoach55 That's a good point. I'm aware of this risk. If the tree is visibly healthy I don't think its an issue.

Some virus diseases of fruit trees can be spread by pruning tools, like stony pit in pears. If I had a tree with this I would burn it . We have bacterial plum canker, after I saw bits of this out I clean the saw with a brush and hot water then sterilise with industrial alcohol before using it on another tree.

Very old trees are more likely to have virusor other diseases

[Ccoach55]

@stephenhayesuk thanks for the reply! look forward to more of your videos