Suckers coming up from the roots should always be cut off right to their base, while in the summer the strong lateral growths are broken back by about half their length with the back of the knife- blade. This is known as bruiting. By leaving the ends of these laterals rough (that is why they are broken off and not cut) secondary growths are discouraged.
These brutted side shoots are shortened back another 3 inches in early March. For ease of picking, keep the tops of the branches at a height of about 7 or 8 feet. Leaders, therefore, have to be cut back hard each year. The female flowers bloom very early in the season, usually from mid-February onwards, the blossoming period usually lasts for one month. The flowers are extremely small, hardly any bigger than a pin's head, and are like a little mauvy tuft peeping out of a bud. Because the male and female flowers are borne separately on the same branch, it is important to see that the male pollen is well distributed, when the female tufts are receptive.
At the moment of writing I have no knowledge of the grassing down of the soil underneath the nut trees. I have always grown my nuts on land that is very lightly cultivated in the summer for the purpose of keeping down weeds.
The trees are grown as cup-shaped bushes on stems 15 inches high. These trees are usually bought as two-year-olds and are planted 15 feet apart, preferably in November. The young trees are pruned very much in the same way as apples, only perhaps they are more basin- shaped. They should have about seven branches and in the first few years the leaders are cut back by about half to just above an outward pointing bud.
The varieties Prunus amygdalus macrocarpa and Prunus amygdalus dukis produce practically no hydrocyanic acid and they have a mild nutty flavour, being quite innocuous.
The laterals, or one-year-old side growths, are then cut back by half and the leaders by about a quarter. All the spindly short laterals should be retained because it is on these that the bulk of the fruits are borne. - 16035
These brutted side shoots are shortened back another 3 inches in early March. For ease of picking, keep the tops of the branches at a height of about 7 or 8 feet. Leaders, therefore, have to be cut back hard each year. The female flowers bloom very early in the season, usually from mid-February onwards, the blossoming period usually lasts for one month. The flowers are extremely small, hardly any bigger than a pin's head, and are like a little mauvy tuft peeping out of a bud. Because the male and female flowers are borne separately on the same branch, it is important to see that the male pollen is well distributed, when the female tufts are receptive.
At the moment of writing I have no knowledge of the grassing down of the soil underneath the nut trees. I have always grown my nuts on land that is very lightly cultivated in the summer for the purpose of keeping down weeds.
The trees are grown as cup-shaped bushes on stems 15 inches high. These trees are usually bought as two-year-olds and are planted 15 feet apart, preferably in November. The young trees are pruned very much in the same way as apples, only perhaps they are more basin- shaped. They should have about seven branches and in the first few years the leaders are cut back by about half to just above an outward pointing bud.
The varieties Prunus amygdalus macrocarpa and Prunus amygdalus dukis produce practically no hydrocyanic acid and they have a mild nutty flavour, being quite innocuous.
The laterals, or one-year-old side growths, are then cut back by half and the leaders by about a quarter. All the spindly short laterals should be retained because it is on these that the bulk of the fruits are borne. - 16035
