- Author: Chutima Ganthavorn
It has been a year since the bare root fruit trees were planted at Community Settlement Association (CSA) in Eastside Riverside as part of the fruit tree planting project, funded by a mini-grant from Wood Streets Green Team in Riverside County. “The trees are dormant right now since it is winter time, but this is a good time for pruning” said Larry Dodson, a Master Gardener with UC Cooperative Extension. On this cold, crisp morning (February 4, 2016), Larry brought his pruning tools to conduct a class for local residents, followed by a pruning demonstration. We learned that it is important to sanitize the tools before pruning each tree to prevent any chances of spreading disease. We pruned the peach, nectarine, and plum trees that we planted last January, but not the pluot or the aprium, hybrids of plum and apricot. Larry said it is best to wait until late spring to prune apricots or any related hybrids since they are susceptible to Eutypa fungus infections. The fungus can enter the pruning wounds during wet conditions. Several local residents said they have a variety of fruit trees at home. One shared that she had previously been afraid to prune her fruit trees because she thought they would produce less fruit. None of the participants knew what a pluot was, so UC CalFresh plans to do a pluot tasting in the future. The CSA Garden Club is hosted by UC CalFresh Nutrition Education Program every first Thursday of the month from 9:00-10:00 a.m. The Club offers nutrition and gardening workshops to help local residents grow and consume more fruits and vegetables for good health.