Pruning this year has been pleasant due to the unseasonable weather in February after a harsh January. Still, it’s unnerving to be outside in an Iowa winter in little more than a light jacket. We’re grateful some colder weather and a little snow came our way later in the week. 

We’re grateful for a recent visit from ISU Extension’s Patrick O’Malley, the fruit tree guy, who checked every Asian pear and helped us determine if we have fire blight (we don’t) or other issues (we do). He encouraged some improved pruning as well as fertilizer. 

We’re big fans of organic practices here, but we’ve struggled to get a reliable source for horse, goat or sheep manure to compost. We don’t have the love for livestock that true livestock farmers do, so we won’t risk the lives of more than our backyard flock of Icelandic chickens just for manure. Our Asian pears have comfrey planted at their base, but as wonderful as that is as a green mulch, it’s clearly not enough as a fertilizer.

So we’ll be resorting to NPK, otherwise known as a Nitrogen/Phosphorus/Potassium granular mix we’ll sprinkle around the drip line of the trees to give them a little boost. Given that they need it badly and that the trees are surrounded by deeply-rooted prairie grasses, we’re confident none of this will end up in the river far below. 

We’re getting ready for our first event as well, an intro to chainsaws taught by our friend Brian Lumpa at Backcountry Tree Service March 6! Interested in getting notices of our free events all year long? Learn more and sign up here.