Serissa Cut back Hard......

     David had a really full day planned out for us today!   There were 9 of us that arrived at the nursery this morning.  The weather was promising to be hot and humid.  As the day went on it became warmer and more humid by the hour.
   Today we worked on ramification.....  how to create taper, going from thick to thin in a short distance, as a tree would do if out in nature.  You begin at the bottom, anywheres on the tree and select a branch that is coming out from the trunk to the tip.  You follow the branch, looking for clumps, thickness, too much twigging in one place, select the largest part of the clumping, cut it out, leaving the much smaller twigging.  Then you look again for redundant twigging, twigs growing across or backwards and cut that off.  when that branch is done, you go to the next branch and follow the same procedure.  By going branch by branch, in this manner  you will eventually get around the whole bottom of your tree.  This is a procedure that will result in cutting the tree back hard, but will result in much finer branching.
     David demonstrated this process on several trees that each of us had brought.  There were 9 different trees brought and 9 times the process was applied demonstrating how versatile and effective this skill is.  The only tree type that this doesn't work on is the conifers (junipers and pines).  They require an entirely different process.
     By the time all of this was done, questions were answered, everyone of us was hungry!  Pizza was ordered and delivered....  It was the "Beast" size! Even though we were hot, hunger took over as we devoured the slices, drank soda, water, gatorade, ice tea, and a few even had coffee!
    After lunch, all of us went to our trees and began to apply the skills we had learned.  Of course watching and deciding on a single branch is quite different from tackling a whole tree!   I got around about 1/2 to 3/4 of my Serissa done before I ran out of time.  Since I had left the girls at 7:45 am, I needed to get home earlier to take care of them.  I left around 1:45 to 2.   I have photographed my tree for you....   it is looking much better than yesterday.  As you look at the picture, you can see through the leaves now and begin to see the internal structure of the tree.....   the trunk bifurcating into 2, reaching out to primary branches.  I will work on the tree more tomorrow and take a tooth brush to the trunk and clean a lot of the green growth growing on it (It's like slime, only its a plant organism)  I will use lysol which you buy in the grocery store.
    The tree looks much better.....  I have a job tomorrow that I look forward to with great relish!   Fun and play for me!