Pruning a Fruit Tree, Does It Really Help?

Pruning! Does it really help a fruit tree bear more fruit? Does decluttering your home and your life really help?

Last December Joe and I took a much needed road trip back to East Texas. We lived there for 10 years (in the 70’s) before moving back to West Texas, where Joe was born and raised. We stayed in the piney woods with long time friends, Gene Edward and Mila. I would call them OLD friends but we are just about the same age.

While Mila and I chatted over coffee, Gene Edward was busy outside. That’s just what he does.

And it was really cold outside. After just a little bit, he came in with this box of beautiful and delicious Satsumas. Texas A&M AgriLife has an article about them. Super Cold Hardy Satsuma Orange Frost Named Texas Superstar

I had never heard of them and here in West Texas, I can’t find them in our grocery stores.

Mila shared their story about 3 trees they purchased and the results of pruning the fruit trees. It was such a wonderful example and spiritual life lesson that I asked her to write it out for me, because I didn’t want to miss a detail. Below is what Mila wrote. I have included some of my photos taken during that visit. Note- they don’t exactly match the events in the story but maybe close enough that you get the idea.

Pruning Satsumas 

Eight years ago Gene Edward bought 3 small satsuma trees from a nursery, brought them home and set them out in the blueberry patch in places where blueberry bushes had died. They had plenty of water from the drip irrigation system.

First Year Pruning

The spring after he set them out he left all the blooms on of one of the trees, stripped about half the blooms off of the second one and stripped them all off the third tree.

The trees that still had blooms on them made a small amount of fruit.

Second Year Pruning

The next spring, he stripped all the blooms off of the third tree again but left all the blooms on the other two. All the trees had grown and the two with blooms again made a fair amount of fruit.

Third Year Pruning

The third spring he left all the blooms on all three trees, which by this time had increased quite a bit in size. The tree that he’d stripped all the blooms off of was a good bit larger than the other two and made quite a bit more fruit than the two that had been producing fruit all along.

By the next year, the first tree had quit growing and made very little fruit, the second tree was only slightly larger and had a fair crop of fruit while the third tree was the largest and making lots of satsumas.

Over the next two years the first two trees died without ever getting very large or making much fruit. The remaining tree is very healthy with an abundance of satsumas.

The Harvest After the Pruning

Because of the pruning, this year (2016) there were about 3 bushels of satsumas on the tree.

The fruit was so plentiful that the lower branches were pulled down to the ground and the upper ones were drooping onto the lower ones.

Lots of sweet, delicious satsumas to eat and to share with family and friends!

Mila Smith (12-2016)

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Can you see how this applies to the clutter in your life? I can see it in mine. The gardener, in this case, Gene Edward pruned the tree not by removing the limbs but by removing the blooms. The blooms already had the potential to bring forth fruit. Because the gardener knew that if the immature blooms were removed, pruned, stripped away for several years that the fruit would be much better than if he left it alone. The gardener was patient and willing to wait.

What stuff or clutter  needs to be pruned or removed in your home?

What bad habits need to be pruned from your diet?

What attitudes need to be pruned from your heart?

How about de-cluttering your mind, your thoughts?

Why are you keeping the stuff that you are holding on to?

How do you feel when you remove that stuff or when the clutter is gone? Be honest.

Are you willing to surrender to the Gardener’s touch?

Are you willing to be patient?

Are you willing to remain, to “abide in the vine”? How will you abide?

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. John 15:1-4 NIV

I am so glad you stopped by. I have a FREE PRINTABLE for you that has the questions above listed. “My Pruning and Decluttering Challenge”.  To grab your FREE print subscribe below.

There is no schedule on this – like a 3 week challenge. Print it! Consider the questions! Breathe! Begin!

Just a note – we do the decluttering. He does the pruning. We remain, abide.

I would love to hear from you.

’til next time,

Nathalie