Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Maintenance
Once a short trunk and scaffold branches
have been established, hazels can be left to
their own devices for a few years. The aim is
to supply enough one-year-old wood to crop
in the coming season, remove any tangled or
crowded growth and to maintain plenty of
light penetration through the canopy.
Suckers should be removed as soon as they
are noticed; they will block light and crowd
the tree.
Harvest your medlars after the first frost if
you have them, or when they can be removed
by a gentle twist. Lay them crown-side down
without touching each other and await
developments.
Mulberry
Morusnigra
,
M.rubra
,
M.alba
,
M.macroura
Whether your mulberry is black, red, white or
the elongated Shartoot, they are undeniably
graceful shade trees with a naturally twisted
and elegant form (see Figure 6.23). Generally
they grow into large trees but there are dwarf
cultivars available - as yet not widely.
Medlar
Mespilusgermanica
Medlars are one of the most beautiful of fruit
trees with the additional attraction of yielding
fruit in late autumn into winter (Figure 6.22).
Establishing a good framework of scaffold
branches is all that is necessary for a
successful tree (see Figure 4.3 for corrective
or guiding pruning at planting).
Most mulberries are large, reaching up to
10 m in time and apart from pruning at
Medlars fruit on the tips of one-year-old wood
as well as spurs that can be happily left to
themselves. As a fruit they are not yet
fashionable, needing to be bletted, or let to
go very soft, some may say rotten. Think of
the flesh as looking like caramel pudding.
Figure 6.23
The black mulberry,
Morusnigra
,
grows into
a beautiful large gnarled tree. There are also dwarf
cultivars that are now available.
Figure 6.22
Medlars. A not-yet fashionable fruit on a
graceful tree. (Photo Norwood
Industries Pty Ltd)
