That reminds me of my most memorable horticulture lab class on pruning.
For some reason the lab was rescheduled for Saturday morning and I had other plans for that day. Our assignment was to prune the shrubbery around the administration building. Did I mention other plans, I had planned to go home for a date with my girlfriend.
So being a little ticked off, I vigorously attacked the bush right beside the main entrance. I took that shrub down to nubbins. In my endeavor, I failed to notice the prof standing behind me. He told me to STOP and then called the rest of the class to stand around me. Didn’t feel as smart at that moment, it was an ugly bush even in my eyes.
Then he told the rest of the class. “Now this is how you do it. You remove 70% of the growth and take it back to the growing points, closest to the root.” And then he chewed out the rest of them for being too tenuous and wasting his time on a Saturday morning.
Next spring the bush looked pretty good when I went to pay tuition.
So to put in in horticultural terms, it is the new growth closest to the root that we want....................
Fewer, better fruits and less disease.
dear peterprinciple,
re: “So to put in in horticultural terms, it is the new growth closest to the root that we want....................”
I agree.