drtreelove

FF, since you ask: I think the article that SD2 has kindly offered (In the Calcim thread) has some good points. And the Dog has obviously put some major thought and care into his plants and property and I value his observations. I just think the mango pruning paper is very over-intellectualized and more technical than it needs to be for the everyday guy like you and me. But that's the nature of scientist-speak. (No I'm not a PhD, far from it, just an old tree doctor with a nickname from friends) I don't say it's wrong, but I'm sure that many people who read it will have a hard time going out into the field and putting it into practice. Some will love to dig in and try to understand, because they love that technical stuff. I couldn't even read the whole thing. But then I've been practicing and teaching pruning for a long time and have developed a simplified approach.

As a climber, and owner of long handled pruning and harvesting tools, I will never agree that it is necessary to head back a tree heavily in order to make the fruit more accessible, and I believe that crown reduction is best achieved by "drop crotching" (thinning cuts that take out the tallest leaders back into the crown, leaving the shorter ones) rather than heading. But then I'm not a commercial grower looking at only the product and profit; and I understand that sometimes the economics and practical issues of production agriculture prevail. I work mostly with landscape fruit trees and small home orchards and I value the natural form and beauty of trees along with the productivity, and I believe you can have both. In that respect, landscape-ornamental and fruit tree pruning can be approached in much the same way.  

I don't have the final word and I don't want to hog the open discussion on pruning. But I do have more practical experience than most and I am happy to share my experience, for what it's worth. There have been several discussions on this subject so maybe it's time to have a thread on pruning of it's own, it's such an important aspect of PHC (plant health care), home garden, landscape and orchard maintenance. I don't have lot of time because I'm back in the US and bustin butt trying to meet the high cost of living. But I'll start a new thread in continuation of this discussion and contribute as time permits. Please help with your input and to find and consolodate previous discussions.

For starters, attached is a paper from Hong Kong that I helped put together.  (No I didn't write the Chinese).

I hope you can read my scan of this great article.  If not I'll try to get a PDF.

An interesting article on an important component in soil and plant health.

http://www.nutri-tec...ate-phenomenon/

I'll be driving from Chiang Mai to Samut Prakan for the first time, tomorrow morning.  To Bang Pu Mai, near Sukhumvit. Can comeone give me best route to get through Bangkok in the early afternoon. Thanks so much. don

I have a good Honda water pump for sale in Chiang Mai.  See TV Classifieds http://classifieds.t...pump-82967.html