More Trees and Bushes for Bowhunters and What to
Prune
More on Pruning Trees for Wildlife
Chris
Kirby, the president of Quaker Boy Calls, from Orchard
Park, New York, hunts abandoned apple orchards in Upstate
New York. “Luckily, I don’t have to plant
more fruit and nut trees where I hunt, but I just take
care of the ones that are on the property that I hunt,”
Kirby
says. One of the problems associated with apple trees
is they drop apples on the ground. The apples rot and
release their seeds. Then more apples grow under your
main trees. Kirby explains, “To keep an apple
tree producing a lot of fruit, I go in and clear other
apple trees and other trees that will compete with the
mature trees away from the tree I’m going to hunt.
Oftentimes this will mean cutting down a really-nice
young apple tree, however, I realize that the less competition
for nutrients and water that an individual tree has,
the more fruit it will put on. But, before you can cut
any tree on any property, make sure you discuss with
the landowner what you intend to do, and have his/her
permission to remove the trees that may compete with
the apple tree you’re hunting around.”
Next, Kirby cuts all the dead branches off the tree
he’s planning to hunt around and removes the dead
limbs from the tree. Then he prunes some of the top
branches. “I’ve learned if you prune some
of the top branches, the tree will put out two more
limbs at the spot where you’ll cut one limb off.
Those two limbs usually will produce more fruit than
the limb you’ve cut. I believe the more branches
you can create by pruning, the more apples you will
have the next year.” Kirby tries not to cut off
any branches that are more than 1-inch in diameter.
He simply tries to stimulate the growth of branches
and increase the amount of fruit
the tree produces and not trying to reduce the number
of limbs or the height of the tree. “What I try
to do with these old apple trees is to give them an
opportunity to grow more limbs and produce more fruit
next year than they have the previous year,” Kirby
advises.
In addition to pruning, Kirby also puts tree tablets
(fertilizer pellets) around the drip line of the tree.
“I dig several holes all around the tree on the
drip edge of the tree, put the tree tablets in those
holes and then cover up the holes. These holes are less
than several inches deep. I just want to get the tablets
into the ground where the rain can carry the fertilizer
down to the roots.” Kirby believes that the fertilizer
not only helps to produce more apples, but also sweeter
apples. “If you take care of your apple trees
during deer season those apple trees will take care
of your deer hunting.” Kirby says.
Check out this important information:
http://www.nighthawkpublications.com/freetips/charts/deerfeed.htm
http://www.nighthawkpublications.com/freetips/charts/zonemap.htm
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