One major skill that I wanted to take away from my internship was pruning. Most courses I've taken have glanced over the subject but getting to physically prune something was awesome. At first, I was extremely hesitant to prune a bed of plants because I was worried I would do it incorrectly or prune the wrong thing. I like to make sure I do things exactly the way I'm told and I want it to be consistent the entire way through. After about an hour of pruning, I was half-way done with a 6'x2' bed, which is not very impressive. The next day, I came back to a bed that was completely finished and Michael told me that I just needed to rough chop the plants, meaning I just had to cut straight across at a consistent height. The picture above was taken about 2 months after the rough chop. I had the opportunity to practice again but this time on blueberry bushes. It was nerve wracking. I didn't want to be the one who killed the blueberry bushes, but he told me to cut back to new growth, even if the entire branch or stem was dead. I still didn't get through much of the pruning, but I think I've gained enough confidence to prune without hesitation and worry. Pruned blueberry bushes that are planted in their own private pots. To provide a little bit of information on blueberry growth, I read a quick informative page (https://www.almanac.com/plant/blueberries). Blueberries require acidic soils and because we live in College Station where tap water has high amounts of salts, it is best to use rainwater to leech calcium, sodium and magnesium so that acidic elements are left. It is best not to completely prune young bushes (2-3 years old) but seeing that these are a few years old, we removed all dead canes and left only new growth. Lastly, blueberry bushes require full-sun in order to grow properly.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Matthew EatonHowdy! ArchivesCategories |
The Howdy Farm at Texas A&M University | Matthew's Blog |