Bear fruit or get pruned

The year was 1985, the site was a 350-acre property development in a very up-market area called Fairfield, Connecticut. There were old houses, classic barns of all sizes and colors, rich neighbors, but none of them had as many apples trees as that property had.

Yes, apple trees dotted 350 acres. They were mature if not old apple trees and from the looks of it, they had not received much loving in a long time. Then one day, a farmer next door suggested that someone prune the apple trees and give ‘em TLC.

Since the property was already being managed by a small company that took over distressed projects, the last thing on the budget was money for pruning and fertilizing close to 75 trees that qualified as a small orchard.

But it soon became obvious that the company either spend the money or risk losing old established apple trees. So, they called in “The Gofer” whose job was to “Go for this” or “Go for that”. He was tasked to find companies to do the project, get bids and recommend the best choice.

Unlike the Philippines, US towns are very strict about such services and projects. Old trees are “protected” and service providers must have experts, equipment and insurance to operate such businesses.

First, you have a company rep who visits and assesses the scope of the work, what equipment will be required such as elevator buckets, chainsaws, pruning tools as well as sprayers for insect control or foliar fertilizing.

Because everything is professionally managed, the next step would be the submission of bids, price negotiation and then choosing who has the best price as well as reputation. From there, the “Gofer” forwarded the bids to management.

It would all seem like just another day at work where you compared prices, check referrals and then write OK. But many companies often burn the checkbook by assuming that tree pruning in the US is cheap or does not cost much.

Apparently nobody bothered to check the bids, not even the prices. Word of mouth simply cascaded to the “Gofer” to go right ahead and get the job done.

The work took several weeks as the “tree experts” carefully checked, pruned and treated each tree in different ways, depending on its condition and age. They didn’t just cut; they chose where to cut and why.

Pruning had to be selective. They took out excess branches, branches that had too many extensions, overloaded branches or over stretched, risking breaking midway or splitting the tree.

Then they got busy with the fertilization and spraying that went on for a couple of weeks and soon, all the apple trees looked like recruits with fresh military haircuts. They did not seem so picturesque and maybe that’s why management never gave it a second thought…

Until the bill arrived. All the “tree work” amounted to fourteen thousand US dollars yes, $14,000. Everyone found it unbelievable, except for the “Gofer” who had reviewed the bids and the job proposals.

In hindsight, it may be that nobody actually read the offers and just assumed it would all be under $5,000. By then the services had been rendered and the bill had to be paid.

Nobody could outrightly say the “Gofer” was responsible, but he spent many weeks feeling the displeasure of the bosses. But God is good and in about a month or so, a powerful storm came barreling through the area.

It was so strong that people taped all their glass windows to reduce the debris from shattering glass. Everybody went on lockdown and prepared for the worse. By the time the storm passed the area, it was an entire mess.

Huge trees were blown over, uprooted and mangled. The magnificent oak trees, the beautiful birch trees, most of them were trashed or toppled. EXCEPT for all the apple trees that were pruned and fertilized.

That’s when the $14,000 seemed like a great price for having an apple orchard and that’s when the Gofer’s decision was recognized as a good decision. But it does not end there.

The apple trees eventually bore so much fruits that the company ended up trucking them to a guy who pressed or juiced the apples, which ended up being stored in a freezer or made into apple cider.

The moral of the story is: it is good to prune. The Philippine government, LGUs, corporations as well as private homeowners should all do their part to prune trees, especially before the typhoon season really comes.

The most painful sight for me is to find one of the trees I planted uprooted, split or broken during a typhoon. That is a testament to laziness or lack of preventive maintenance that results in the loss of trees that take five to 20 years to mature.

Last week, we embarked on serious pruning of trees because we don’t want to deal with downed electric and internet wires or having to find people to clear the road or our property from so many fallen branches. The reality is, you can preventively prune and save trees or lose them and still have to cut and clear.

Pruning when done right is also very good for fruit trees and even for flowers and vegetables. Thanks to the internet, Plantitos and Plantitas are now learning the benefits and how to prune properly.

Don’t look at it as a garden activity, it is preventive maintenance.

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