Orchard People Fruit Tree Care Education

Perfect, easy to understand with nice printable tools.

I have an apple tree I planted about ten years ago in my garden -- a semi-dwarf espalier. I am an academic and so I thought "what the heck I can just go online and download a bunch of stuff to learn how to care for it!" Which I did. But over years I found it almost impossible to sort through different strategies, account for regional differences in when and how to prune and feed, or discussions about timing and keep in my head the big picture about how to best care for my tree. My tree was healthy enough as trees go (lots of great foliage) but in terms of my original plans it was a hot mess, responded to my sporadic interventions in ways I did not fully understand and I have never had anything approaching a decent yield. My interventions were often based on something I had just pulled off the internet with little understanding of the big picture or a multi-year strategy to help my tree reach its full potential. Susan's course is a really worthwhile investment - it lays out the whole process from start to finish - how to pick a site, the need for soil testing (big surprise there when I got my soil test back and discovered some significant deficiencies) the timing and different strategies for pruning, for protection against diseases -- this is the whole package and then some. The videos are short and informative - they anticipate questions as they arise, the diagrams are very clear and on top of that Susan is a wonderful teacher -- ready to answer particular questions you have as they arise, coach you through anxieties (eg about pruning, over pruning). And this is a resource I can turn to again and again over the years as I help my tree reach its potential. I can't recommend this course highly enough - my only wish is I had started it ten years ago!

Coming from an industrial forestry background and then into the urban forestry side, I believed there was only really one way to prune a tree - for height and structure, usually the taller and straighter the better. I thoroughly enjoyed both the winter and summer pruning modules because they explained that pruning fruit trees is not done for aesthetics or timber - it's done so to maximise fruit quality and yield, and facilitate harvesting. The organic approach was also ideal, as developing orchards and home fruit tree care ought to be done using integrated pest management, of which a lite version has been introduced here with the use of birds, physical barriers, and good tree care. Overall I am excited by the knowledge this course has given me and I hope to revitalise an urban orchard, as well as potentially try my luck with some (very) hardy apples on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Thank you!

Susan, your course is really great! It's informative, well-structured and fun. I loved the way the Mini Quizzes helped me review the main points all along the way, as did the final quiz at the end. I'm really glad I'll have access to review it over the years since there's so much information to absorb. But I also appreciated your final word, to just go out there and do it! Having a hearing impairment, the captions were great and made it possible for me to follow along. They were perfectly timed and flawless--which is rare and was very much appreciated!

I would highly recommend the Certificate in Fruit Tree Care for anyone wanting to learn about how to select and properly care for fruit trees inn urban environment. The videos are informative and interesting with excellent handouts and resources. Thank you for designing and offering this fantastic course!

There are definitely a lot of differences between caring for ornamental trees and caring for fruit trees. Because of what I learned in this course, my fruit trees - both established and new - are thriving this year. Taking this course was definitely time well-spent. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

Not an "observational" course in which participants simply receive content, this class involves detailed research and development of personal resources to amplify and integrate the learning materials. The result is a useful "toolbox" - literally, intellectually, and experientially. Accessible, helpful, and motivating. Wonderful.

I’ve learned so much, this course has given me so much enthusiasm to grow more fruit in my suburban yard. Thank you for being so detailed in your explanations!

This is a must take class. Pruning fruit trees is very different than pruning landscape trees. This class gives you the knowledge to prune for healthy, productive fruit trees.

Fun and engaging material with lots of real life examples. The pace and format of the modules makes it easy to get through. Offering lots of supporting material and notes for download in pdf format makes it easy to revisit after completion.