Appreciation post: That elderly couple in Portland who showed me how to prune their old apple tree

I was out in St. Johns last spring helping a friend clear some overgrown branches and this couple in their 80s walked over and asked if I could take a look at their massive apple tree. They showed me how they'd been cutting back the same three limbs every year and wondered why the fruit was so small. Made me rethink how I talk to homeowners about crown thinning and whether I'm really explaining the why behind the cuts.

2 comments

2 Comments

davidwright3d ago

@wood.zara makes a good point about the gaslighting thing. That couple had been getting bad advice from someone for years, probably a well-meaning neighbor or a chain saw guy who didn't know better. How do you even undo that kind of damage when a homeowner has been hearing the same wrong thing from multiple sources?

wood.zara4d agoMost Upvoted

Makes me wonder how many trees I've accidentally gaslit with bad advice lol