IT’S not often you have a few trees as part of an illustrated talk but presenters could take a valuable leaf from Martyn Cracknell’s book who told the audience about how to go about pruning decorative and fruiting trees on November 5.

The talk was informative and funny, without over-reliance on Powerpoint slides and hinged on ‘know your plant and how it behaves naturally’. There were no hard and fast rules apart from choosing a good day to do it on, and looking at the tree from all angles before tackling the job in hand. Reasons to prune included the ‘3 Ds’ – diseased, dead and damaged.

He said it was important to know what you wanted from your tree or plant – was it for decoration, a landscape feature, or to obscure an ugly view? Does the tree flower on current season’s growth or on last year’s wood? All these questions and more Martyn said would determine how to handle pruning.

As a general rule he said, pruning should be done after flowering and it was especially vital to ensure that tools were sharp so that when the weather turns wet, this does not allow fungi or disease to get in,

The audience heard it was important to know how the tree would respond to injury as some responded better than others. Leylandii, for example if treated rather harshly, can turn brown and will not recover.

Using his real-life examples, Martyn said that the key to good plants is to ensure there is a good root structure. Consequences to avoid were creating a top-heavy and dense crown with consideration should be given to the shape of the tree. Fruit trees used to be a globe shape, but now varieties with a dwarf root stock sold in nurseries have a single central stem making them easier to harvest and trim. He also referred to bark ringing and festooning to curb the root system and encourage early fruiting as with a fig tree for example.

On the subject of fruiting trees Martyn said that the focus should not necessarily be on optimum yield since most people would never use a bumper harvest from one tree and it would be far better to have different varieties to stagger production.

In general, you should prune to a shape which appeal to you, planning ahead and replacing the whole tree or plant where necessary. Care should be taken with older trees phasing the pruning over two to three years.

The talk was well attended, and Pete Chamberlain announced that the final event for the year would be the Christmas dinner on Wednesday, December 3 at the Villages Hall for which tickets were now available to both members and non-members at a cost of £16 for a three course meal.

LESLEY MILLER