Offered in TWO locations on the same day!
Join University of Illinois Extension Local Foods and Small Farms Educator Grant McCarty for a program on “Introduction to Fruit Tree Pruning”. This program is being held on Tuesday, February 25 at:
- 1:30 p.m. at the Jo Daviess County Extension Office, 204 N. Vine Street, Elizabeth, IL.
- 5:30 p.m. at the Highland Community College Student Conference Center, Room 210, 2998 W. Pearl City Road, Freeport, IL.
There is no charge to attend either of these programs, but pre-registration is requested. After registering, Grant will reach out to request photos of your trees to be utilized in his presentation. You must send photos by February 21 for the chance of them being used in the presentation. Any photos sent after that will be marked up after the program. To register or for more information, please visit us online or call the Jo Daviess Extension Office at 815-858-2273 or Stephenson County Extension Office at 815-235-4125.
From the end of December to mid-March, one of the main tasks you need to do in Northern Illinois is prune your fruit trees (apples, pears, cherry, peach). By pruning and removing unproductive wood, this will get your trees in shape for better fruit in the summer. If you don’t prune, it is possible that quality and yields may be lower than you expect.
The “Introduction to Fruit Tree Pruning” class will cover the basics of this important task. This includes tools you will need, approaches for old-neglected and new trees, branches to be removed, and other challenges you may encounter. While not hands-on at an orchard, this course does incorporate photos of attendees’ trees to give you a color-coded road map as to what limbs to keep and to remove.
“Each winter, I teach this class to help backyard growers, beginning farmers, and others get a better understanding of fruit tree pruning and gain confidence in the cuts they need to make,” states Grant McCarty, Local Foods and Small Farms Educator. “Over the last 6 years, nearly 300 individuals have gone through this class and sent me many photos of their trees to examine and assist with. What I enjoy about this program is that attendees see other’s trees and they realize they may be dealing with similar challenges in their own orchard.”
If you need a reasonable accommodation to attend either of these programs please call the Jo Daviess Extension Office at 815-858-2273 or the Stephenson County Extension Office at 815-235-4125. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your needs.
University of Illinois Extension develops educational programs, extends knowledge, and builds partnerships to support people, communities, and their environments as part of the state's land-grant institution. Extension serves as the leading public outreach effort for University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences in all 102 Illinois counties through a network of 27 multi-county units and over 700 staff statewide. Extension’s mission is responsive to eight strategic priorities — community, economy, environment, food and agriculture, health, partnerships, technology and discovery, and workforce excellence — that are served through six program areas — 4-H youth development, agriculture and agribusiness, community and economic development, family and consumer science, integrated health disparities, and natural resources, environment, and energy.