For Saskatoon growers, proper pruning means best bushes

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

Saskatoon growers, from the casual backyard gardener to the commercial orchard operator, will want to attend the upcoming saskatoon pruning workshop organized by the Saskatchewan Fruit Growers Association (SFGA).

The workshop will take place on April 23 at 1:30 p.m. It is being held at Prairie Dome Strawberries and Saskatoons, located 10 kilometres south of Yorkton on Highway #9.

Tonia Vermette, the owner and operator of Prairie Dome, says the seminar will offer a lot of good information to growers. “Pruning techniques are very important in a sasktoon crop, because saskatoons want to be a tree, they don’t want to be a shrub. You have to encourage them otherwise, or else when they get to be about 10 years old, you won’t be able to reach the berries from the ground anymore,” she said.

“Saskatoons only bear on one-year-old wood, and they just grow from the tip. As a result, you want many stems coming from the ground, and you want to keep the plants rejuvenating so that a nice shrub forms and stays that way for 30 years.”

The workshop is being conducted by Clarence Peters, a provincial specialist for fruit crops with Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food (SAF). “Clarence is the saskatoon specialist in the province,” Vermette noted. “He’s done a lot of research into pruning techniques that make the bushes grow like you want them to.”

Proper pruning of saskatoons will deliver considerable benefits for both large and small growers. For one, it protects the bushes from disease and ensures that infected branches are correctly removed to prevent the disease from spreading.

Pruning also maximizes and stabilizes yields from year to year. “Saskatoons are a biennial crop. You tend to have a really big crop one year, and then a fairly small one the next year,” Vermette said.

“Of course, a lot depends on bloom and weather and pollination, too, but pruning encourages a stable amount of fruit every year. You’re going to try to get the bush to do what you want it to, and that is to produce more consistently.”

It can also make the saskatoons more suitable to harvesting with a mechanical harvester, a device with long metal fingers that protrude into the bushes to shake the berries free.

“Proper pruning will ensure the bushes are shaped so that there’s as little damage as possible to the plant during this process,” Vermette stated.

Registration for the afternoon-long session is $25 per operation, meaning that the single fee will cover multiple delegates wishing to attend from the same farm. Payments can be made at the door.

All registration fees collected from the workshop will be used by the SFGA to fund research and other projects being undertaken to enhance the development of saskatoons and other prairie fruits.

To register or obtain more information on the session, please contact Prairie Dome Strawberries and Saskatoons at (306) 782-7297, visit the operation’s website at www.prairiedome.com, or visit the SFGA website at www.saskfruit.com.

For more information, contact:

Tonia Vermette
Prairie Dome Strawberries and Saskatoons
Phone: (306) 782-7297
Website: www.prairiedome.com