Bayer Garden Arbrex Seal & Heal

Product Information

It’s all to do with light. It does us humans good to be in the sunshine, and the same applies to fruit trees, in the sense that they need good light throughout. If the trees have been left to themselves and have produced masses of shoots all round, virtually a solid mass of growth that creates darkness inside the canopy of the tree, then the leaves are no longer able to carry out the functions they were designed for. Photosynthesis goes into survival mode: the little energy that the shaded leaves manage to produce is used simply to keep the structure alive. There is no energy left to create productive fruiting wood as a replacement for older non-productive branches. His knowledge is encyclopedic. After training at the under the then Ministry of Agriculture, Bill spent over twenty years at the Department of Biological and Environmental Services at Lancaster University. Now, he's a regular course tutor at Alston Hall, Longridge and Lancaster Adult College. I have a fruiting cherry tree and a plum tree. I would like to keep them in a 5 LT plastic pot for now, so what is the best soil to plant them in? Bill replies...

Bleeding from pruning cuts / RHS Gardening Bleeding from pruning cuts / RHS Gardening

I have a very large flowering cherry tree - about 40ft high - which is to be thinned and have the crown lifted. I have two opinions on silver leaf fungus disease; 1 tree surgeon says to wait until June, the other says any time is OK. What is your view? Bill replies... There is a spring flowering cherry in the garden next door to us. It is over 25 foot high and is some 8 foot from the wall of our house. The roots have already caused the paving on our side path to lift. I am concerned about how it might affect or be affecting the foundations of our house. I would be grateful if you could say if it is likely to cause damage to the foundations. Bill replies...We received an enquiry from a reader who has an apple tree with a double trunk. This is how she described the problem. I'm planning on having a drive put in, however, there is an established cherry blossom tree nearby and I will have to cut away an area 2 metres from the tree. How can I do this without damaging the roots/tree? I would be very grateful for any advice. Thanks Bill replies... Please could you tell me why my dwarf cherry tree now has good foliage growing at the top branches but no foliage further down? Also it is inside since mid December and seems to be much happier? Bill replies... Vitis(grape vine – edible and ornamental types): Prune after leaf fall but before Christmas to be safe. Plants affected Birch, walnut, maple, hornbeam, Laburnum, magnolia, mulberry, poplar, Tilia, grape vine, Sophora

Apple canker / RHS Gardening Apple canker / RHS Gardening

I have a 25 ft old cherry tree that produces only a few cherries. I don't think it has ever been pruned and is pyramid shaped. There are 2 main limbs but they are almost vertical. I would like to get some fruit and "top" the tree if possible. Can I do this now (February) or do I have to wait till the summer and how should I prune it. Bill replies...I have got a flowering cherry tree which over the last few years has given plenty of flowers. This year there are only a few buds, on looking in the soil I have found the roots have got white fungus on them. The area it is planted in gets flooded when we get heavy rain and takes a long time to dry out. Could you tell me what I can do, and if I need to dig it out and could I plant another one? Bill replies... Your suggestions make good sense to me, but I would like to ask if because the tree has been stressed four years in a row, would it be less traumatic if I took off only part of the selected trunk, plus one top branch of the preferred trunk this year, and then remove the full selected trunk one year later?” This possible gentler approach is shown in the diagram below.