Apple trees are hard to kill. That's good, considering that most of the apple trees you can find growing in the wilds of New Hampshire's forests (often at old homestead sites) get no pruning or care whatsoever. Often the surrounding forest has grown up around them, shading them completely, or even worse, they're enveloped in tangles of invasive weeds. With a little bit of help, those old apple trees can still bear a tremendous amount of fruit for wildlife. In a recent workshop led by Nigel Manley, Director of the Rocks Estate, participants learned how to release and prune wild apples for just this purpose.
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| Nigel pointing out which branches to prune on an old apple tree |
One of the apples we released during the workshop was a tree on the Merrimack River floodplain that was entirely enveloped in Oriental bittersweet (
Celastrus orbiculatus) and honeysuckle bushes (
Lonicera, spp.), both invasive plants. With a dozen people's hands working with loppers, clippers and saws to clear away the invasives, the tree was released in about a half hour. Following that, Nigel worked with the group to decide which branches to prune in order to make the tree stronger and bring the potential fruiting boughs down to pickable height for both people and wildlife. We'll have to keep an eye on the encroaching bittersweet in years to come and do some follow-up pruning, but this tree should fare better now that it has been released and pruned. If you are interested in learning how to release and prune wild fruiting trees, look for this workshop when we offer it again next spring!
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| Before release - the tree is barely visible among the tangle of invasives |
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| Post release, the tree is being pruned by workshop participants |
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| Final result- released and pruned tree! |
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