Page 58 - Sonoma County Gazette February 2017

Romance & Red- shouldered Hawks
By Lisa Hug
It’s February, and there is romance in
the air. If you know a resident pair of Red- shouldered Hawks in your neighborhood, you can hear that romance clearly. Their piercing, descending whistles penetrate the atmosphere and inform all creatures to stop and look up.
Creating Fruitful Yields
Winter Fruit Tree Pruning & Grafting
These hawks are among the most beautiful raptors in the world. Their wings and back are checkered black and white. They have contrasting black and white bands on their tail. They not only have red shoulders, but they have a solidly red chest and a nely barred red belly. In fact, until about the middle of the twentieth century, they were called red-bellied hawks.
Do you have a young fruit tree? Not sure when, or how, to prune it? Well get those pruners sharpened, because winter is the opportune time to make those ne cuts that will yield abundant results in the fruiting season to come! These cold, wet months are a crucial time to prune many plants that are lying dormant, storing their energy and focusing on development below ground rather than above. This month, I am highlighting practices that go hand in hand but can often be daunting for most newcomers, the concepts of fruit tree pruning and grafting.
These striking hawks are not ashamed
to show their love for each to the whole
world. They rise up into the sky for all to see.
They circle each other with their red bodies
glowing in the sun. They spread their black
and white wings and tail. The male often
rises above the soaring female and arcs up and down. They both call loudly to each other with their clear, repetitive, persistent whistles. Finally, he dangles his yellowish-orange legs in front of her. She nds this display irresistible. The two are bonded together for yet another breeding season.
On the quest to keep all the new growth of spring and summer under control and balance your canopy, it is all too easy to lose focus on the quality of cuts being made. However, more than just aesthetics can be compromised with improper pruning, which can lead to
The pair of hawks puts on this display year after year. They may perform this ritual several times over a course of three weeks. They choose the warm, sunny days of late winter and early spring to act out this charming courtship
stress and poor growth cycles in the
future. The simple act of using dull
tools can create a wound that increases
the likelihood of air-borne or pest-
induced diseases, leaving the tree in
worse shape than before. So how do
you begin this challenging task? Start
by asking yourself a few key questions
to determine the desired structure of
your fruit tree. Do I want it to reach its
full growth habit making fruit accessibility harder as the years go by? Think lots of time spent up on a ladder with baskets of fruit. Do I want to maintain my tree in a backyard orchard style, accessible from the ground? Is this a good species to espalier and make into an edible fence? Is grafting di erent varietals to diversify my trees production the goal? This will help determine what types of cuts you make to encourage di erent growth patterns that allow you to shape the tree overtime.
usually start seeing edgling Red-shouldered Hawks around late May. They are similarly patterned to the adults, but the brilliant red, black and white colors are replaced with various shades of brown and tan. And they are noisy. They cry out loudly to the parents to bring them food. The parents respond to these cries with various prey items for about eight more weeks. But after that, the youngsters are on their own. They need to do their own hunting through the fall and winter. The young often wander around during this rst year of life. They usually wait until their second year before nding a mate and performing the stunning ritual that their parents performed two years earlier.
towel to retain hydration and maintain dormancy. Generally speaking, it is best to graft in the spring, from the time the buds of understock trees are beginning to open, until blossom time, typically April or early May.
It is hard to believe that Red-shouldered Hawks were rare in this part of California in the early part of the twentieth century. But in the latter part of the century, the hawks adapted to suburban areas that had large trees along creeks and starting using eucalyptus trees for nesting. This population increase of such a beautiful bird gives us hope for the future.
For many, pruning is an art form, and there are lots of classes including meditation practices that are centered on this. While it is easy to lose yourself
in the number of techniques available on the topic, nothing quite compares to observation and a little practice. So before you head out to start shaping your trees this winter, one last piece of advice – determine what your desired outcome is ahead of time, slow down and take a look at the whole tree before each cut and always make sure your pruners are sharp and disinfected. Happy Pruning!
May we all learn from the Red-shouldered Hawk’s example this Valentine’s season and not be afraid to show our feelings to those for whom we care.
Want to get hands-on experience with these concepts working alongside an expert in the eld? Join Daily Acts for our ‘Winter Garden Wizardry - Fruit Tree Pruning and Grafting Workshop’ with John Valenzuela on Sunday, February 19th from 10am-2pm! Spots are limited, so be sure to sign up at dailyacts.org.
58 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 2/17
display. When the two are not displaying to each other, they are busy constructing or improving last year’s nest. This is a large, well-concealed stick structure usually in a high tree. The female then takes a few days to lay three or four eggs, one each morning. She will do most of the incubating for the next ve weeks. During this time, the male does the hunting. He will bring her small mammals, large insects, frogs, snakes, and occasionally a small bird.
If grafting is your intention, then it is important to leave adequate space above the cut for the fruit bearing bud to prosper once grafted to another fruit tree stock
After hatching, the chicks stay in the nest for about ve weeks. We
it does not begin to sprout before it can be grafted. Scions should be placed in a labeled bag and stored in a refrigerator with a moist
within its lineage. Saving your scion (or the fresh new growth that is pruned) is an important next step. When fruit trees are pruned in winter, they are in a low energy growth state and it is important that the scion remains that way so that