Harry, Blake, Jaden and Joe worked with Dan to prune the school's apple trees.

Shelley's husband Dan came to help us with pruning the trees at school. 

We started with a conversation with Dan about which branches to cut out. He told us to cut the ones that are growing straight up (water shoots), the ones that were rubbing against each other, the ones that had split or looked sick, and the ones that were growing back into the middle of the tree. He said to start with the big branch cuts first because apple trees only like to have 1/4 taken off at a time. 

The first tree looked wild and it was overtaking the one next to it (making it have to grow straight up to find light). Harry used a saw to cut out a big branch that opened up the space, and gave the second tree more room. As we decided which branches to cut out, we had to choose the right tool for the job- secateurs, loppers or the saw. Each of us had a go with the different tools. 

We also pruned the nashi pear on the back field which had fallen over. So Harry got in with the saw and cut off the old trunk to allow the new trunk to be the boss. We used the sulkie to bring the branches from the back field to the pile.

Dan taught Harry how to tell the difference between leaf and flower buds. He now knows that leaf buds are flatter on the stem and flower buds stick out more. 

We have thought about which branches might come out next year too. We also talked about how we can look after the trees when we pick the apples. 

It was fun!