07/07/2015 Tuesday – under the leadership of Doc.dr. Jasmine Aliman, we started the process of summer pruning of orchards on the experimental farm in Humilišani in the early morning hours.
While the fruit trees were being pruned, we were introduced to new terms such as pinching and digging, we learned how to connect the branches to direct them so that they do not interfere with other branches on the tree and to grow better and bear more fruit (rubber band or weights, or improvising in various ways – bottles, laths, toothpicks, etc.), how to recognize which branches should be removed or shortened during summer pruning, what are the basic differences between stone and apple fruit, what should be the distance between the branches on the wire, etc. .
We also located a few trees that unfortunately need to be removed from the orchards, and the site disinfected before new fruit trees are planted this fall. We talked about diseases and pests whose consequences we saw in the orchard.
Doc. dr. Aliman recommended that we mix organic fertilizer and protection, and that we treat the fruits with foliar.
The next (winter) pruning will be organized next February or March, when we will remove some thicker branches that we must not touch now.
Summer pruning was done on about 20 trees this morning, and we will continue it in the coming days on other fruit trees (except figs, which are not intended for this type of pruning).
We thank the hardworking volunteers who joined us this morning and worked with us, despite the high temperatures. In addition to the workshop leader, we also learned from them because they are young agronomists from the Faculty of Agromediterranean in Mostar.
The workshop is part of the activities of the project Support to Agricultural Development in Herzegovina, implemented by UG Nešto Više, and supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
