You did exceedingly well with your grafting. It seems a more rational
way to proceed than by a total amputation, and yet ample success is
often attained by grafting for a whole new top at once.
Pruning Almonds.
Should the main branches be shortened in a three-year-old almond tree?
Of course, I intend to thin out the branches. Some growers here advise
me to shorten the main branches; others say do not shorten them, as it
tends to give the trees a brushy top.
Although some growers are contending for regular shortening - in of the
almond as is practiced on the peach, it is not usual to cut back almond
trees after they have reached three years of age and have assumed good
form. Of course, if cutting back is done, the shoots coming from near
the amputation must be thinned out to prevent the brushiness your
adviser properly objected to.
Budding and Grafting Almonds.
Is it better to bud or graft bitter almond seedlings of one year's
growth, and, as they must be transplanted, would it be proper to do the
work this season or defer it for another year's growth?
Your almond seedlings should have been budded in July or August after
starting from the nut, which would have fitted them for planting in
orchard the following winter as dormant buds, as they cannot stay where
they are another season. Now you can transplant to nursery rows in
another place: cut back and graft as the buds are swelling, allowing a
good single shoot to grow from below on those which do not start the
grafts into which you can bud in June, and cut back the stock to force
growth as soon as the buds have taken.
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