- 7 



RESEARCH FROM OTHER AREAS 



Department 



Wi 11 iam J . Lord 

 of PI ant and Soi 1 



Sciences 



Hedge Pruning of Fruit Trees : The effects of mower pruning on the 

 growth and production of fruit trees in Michigan were studied by 

 CM. Hansen, R.P. Larsen and G. Monroe and reported in Volume 50 

 (No. 3), of the Quarterly Bulletin of the Michigan Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan. 



The study showed that top hedging with a sickle bar-type mower 

 plus follow-up pruning by hand reduced labor and was satisfactory 

 for continuing growth and productivity of peach trees. 



Conventional hand pruning required 15 minutes per tree. Top 

 hedging followed by finish hand pruning reduced time to 12 minutes 

 Per tree. When top hedging was followed by a minimum of hand prun- 

 ing, which consisted of only major cuts to eliminate broken and un- 

 desirable branches, the pruning could be accomplished in 3 or 4 min- 

 utes per tree. 



hedging alone stimulated excessive top growth and the lower 

 interior branches were shaded out after 2 or 3 years. The type of 

 fruit wood produced by hedge pruning also was greatly inferior to 

 that produced by conventional pruning. However, 3 or 4 large prun- 

 ing cuts each year, to keep the lower areas open to sunlight, main- 

 tained the growth and productiveness of the entire tree. 



Yield comparisons of conventional hand pruning, top hedging 



pi us hand finish pruning, top hedging pi us minimum hand pruning, 



top hedging only , and top and side hedging, showed no significant 



differences among pruning treatments during 4 of the 5 years of 

 evaluation (1960-64). 



In 1962, trees which received top and side hedging had signif- 

 icantly higher yields than those receiving the other pruning treat- 

 ments. This difference did not hold for subsequent years, however, 

 and there was no significant difference in the overall average 

 yields for the 5 years. No data for fruit size was obtained and 

 this possible effect of pruning treatments needs further evaluation. 



The hedge pruning results with cherries and apples were some- 

 what similar to those with peaches. There were no significant dif- 

 ferences in cherry yields during the two years in which data were 

 obtained. Pruning labor for cherries was reduced somewhat, but not 

 as much as with peaches. The effect of hedge pruning on apple trees 

 Was difficult to evaluate since the trees were not grown in a hedge 

 row, but the implication was that there were no apparent effect on 

 yield. 



The authors concluded that since other cultural practices, such 

 as fruit thinning, are so closely related to pruning, a great deal 



