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The INDEPENDENT, January 18, 2012
Can You Dig It?
shown in the final figure, to maximize fruit production
and reduce diseases.
By Schann Nelson
Columbia County Master Gardener
Any sunny day is a good
excuse to go out and get start-
ed pruning, even though many
things still have leaves or
bunches of dried leaves. Be-
ginning now until spring
chores take over, it’s time to
prune and spray. I’m hoping
that by sharing illustrations
from my library we can cover
the basics without a lot of words. Pruning is as much
art as it is science, I spend at least as much time walk-
ing around the tree and studying it, as I do pruning.
This is one time that sharp tools make a huge dif-
ference. Disease can be transferred from tree to tree
by your pruners so be sure to sterilize with rubbing al-
cohol periodically. While clean, you can run a sharp-
ening stone over the blade to keep it ship-shape.
We prune to direct the growth of certain trees so
that light and air can reach the desired levels of good
air circulation and light available to the majority crown
growth of the tree. We may also prune to a desired
shape for a variety of reasons, including to maximize
the use of space or to create some focal point grown
into the landscape.
These first six drawings (from author Lewis Hill,
1979) show the transformation of a living stick – such
as you might purchase nested in shavings at a store –
to a three-year-old tree. I have put a large X on the
stick that represents a tree pruned at planting. The
recommendation is to prune only twiggy, weak, broken
or diseased branches, leaving a firm skeleton. The
tree will grow over the summer into something like fig-
ure 3. Over the winter, some of the branches are
pruned out to give greater air circulation and general
shape. Over the following summer, a healthy large
tree begins to take shape requiring annual pruning, as
People are always asking me about roses. I’ve
pretty much given up on them, although my mother
Church Directory
V ERNONIA F OURSQUARE C HURCH
F IRST B APTIST C HURCH
P IONEER B APTIST F ELLOWSHIP
Carl Pense, Pastor
850 Madison Avenue, Vernonia
503 429-1103
Sunday Worship Service: 10:30 a.m.
Children’s Sunday School
Pastor John D. Murray
359 “A” Street, Vernonia
503 860-3860
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Sunday Worship Service 11:00 a.m.
Wednesday Prayer Meeting 7:00 p.m.
John Cahill, Pastor
939 Bridge Street, Vernonia
503-429-1161
www.pbfalive.com
Sunday School 9:30 a.m.
Sunday Morning Worship 11:00 a.m.
Thursday Prayer 7:00 p.m.
S EVENTH D AY A DVENTIST
Larry Gibson, Pastor
2nd Ave. and Nehalem St., Vernonia
503 429-8301
Morning Worship, 11:00 a.m.
Sabbath School 9:30 a.m.
A SSEMBLY OF G OD
Wayne and Maureene Marr
662 Jefferson Ave., Vernonia,
503 429-0373
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Morning Worship 11:00 a.m
S T . M ARY ' S C ATHOLIC C HURCH
Rev. Luan Tran, Administrator
960 Missouri Avenue, Vernonia
503 429-8841
Mass Sunday 12:00 Noon
Religious Educ. Sunday 10:30 a.m.
V ERNONIA C OMMUNITY C HURCH
Ralph Young, Pastor
957 State Avenue, Vernonia
503 429-6790
Sunday Bible Classes 9:00 a.m.
Family Praise & Worship 10:30 a.m.
Wednesday Prayer 6:30 p.m.
Thursday Laadies Study 7:00 p.m.
Nursery 10:15 a.m.
Vernonia Community Preschool
N EHALEM V ALLEY B IBLE C HURCH
Gary Taylor, Pastor
Grant & North Streets, Vernonia
503 429-5378
Sunday School 10:00 a.m.
Morning Worship 11:00 a.m.
Nursery available
Wednesday Service 7:00 p.m.
V ERNONIA C HRISTIAN C HURCH
C HURCH OF J ESUS C HRIST
OF L ATTER D AY S AINTS
Sam Hough, Minister
410 North Street, Vernonia
503 429-6522
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Sunday Worship 11:00 a.m.
(meets in Youth & Family Center)
Various Home Group Meetings
Marc Farmer, Branch President
1350 E. Knott Street, Vernonia
503 429-7151
Sacrament Meeting, Sunday 10 a.m.
Sunday School & Primary 11:20 a.m.
Relief Society, Priesthood and
Young Women, Sunday 12:10 p.m.
was a master. Deer love roses, but that’s another col-
umn. Here’s a lovely illustration from Plant Pruning in
Pictures (Montague Free, 1961) called Around the
year with a moderate-growing Hybrid Tea.
Top, in the spring the newly planted bush was
pruned back to stubs. Center, strong growth (black)
quickly developed from buds on stubs and flowered in
the summer; also one strong shoot and three weaker
ones grew from the base of the bush at ground level
or below. Bottom. The bush pruned early the next
spring.
While the illustration is very clear I have a few is-
sues. First, the strong first year growth that is referred
to would require a lot of sun, water and fertilizer, i.e.
attention. We all know that this is an area I have trou-
ble with. I don’t have much sunshine and sometimes
there are issues with the water. Second, the pruning
seems a little aggressive. Third, another thing roses
want attention to is their mulch – piled up over the
crowns in winter and carefully removed in the spring.
If you prune in this strict traditional way you will be
pruning above the mulch. Better to wait till later in
spring, spread the mulch out from the crowns and over
the spaces between plants. You want to make sure
that you are cutting above the root graft of your rose
in most cases, especially for the Hybrid Teas, those
spectacular centerpieces of bouquets and bridal flow-
ers.
This is part of why I don’t bother. There is also the
discussion about variations in pruning for the different
types of roses: Tea & Hybrid Tea, Climbing, Dwarf
Polyantha, Floribunda, Rambler, Pillar and Species.
Add to that the advances in hybridizing for disease re-
sistance, and finding and picking roses is just not my
thing. If it’s yours or you would like to know more, I
hope this provides you with some starting point.