Note the cluster of leaves trapped up in each tree. As leaves fell from the tree last Fall, many of those leaves became lodged in the profusion of branches that sprouted near the pruning cuts I made last season. In a few weeks time, I'll be removing all the one-year-old shoots from these trees allowing all the dead leaves to fall to the ground. After pruning my scionwood trees will look barren and naked.
However, severe pruning is necessary to stimulate the growth of abundant and vigorous shoots each summer. As you can see in the photo the shoots produced by this method are long, straight, and have large, healthy buds spaced widely apart on the stem. These one-year-old shoots are easy to carve and make strong healthy scions.
Clicking of "Pecan Scionwood 2024" on the mast head will take you to my pecan scionwood order page. Hopefully, the days of severe drought are behind us and the 2024 grafting season will provide the perfect opportunity to propagate some new pecan trees.