Orchard Update - Thinning and Pruning Videos

Inspired by another one of Stephen Hayes timely videos, I thinned the fruit on a couple of heavily cropping cider apple trees today. I wouldn't normally bother thinning fruit on a cider apple tree, mainly because the size of apples is not so important, but there's a real danger that a branch carrying this amount of fruit could break as the apples swell throughout the Summer.

I also took the opportunity to remove unwanted growth from the rootstock which has become a bit of a problem this year for some reason. I will certainly be investing in some of the thin nosed secateurs featured in Stephens video, as I found the thinning was quite difficult with normal Felco's.

For those not particularly interested in orchard work, the Rockingham Forest Cider Hens make a guest appearance in these videos. Fact is, it's very difficult to keep them out of shot....