The Calm Tree - Pruning for Balance

Approaching the Tree
I was pruning with a client last week when it dawned on me that the physical growth habit of a tree is merely an expression of its energetic inner being. The grower and I were discussing the growth habit of various types of cider apples trees and why we needed to head this type of branch, tip that one, tie down, or do nothing at all. We discussed how many branches to take out versus leave in for another year. We discussed how some varieties are tip bearers, semi-tip bearers, spur bearers, or simply produce blind wood- but that each needed to be approached uniquely. This is when it dawned on me that a tree’s physical manifestation is just an expression of the tree’s guna, or prakriti, which is to some degree a function of its surroundings, but really something beyond that.

There have been volumes written on the growth habits of apple trees and the pruning approaches best suited to each. Most of these works describe the physical form of each tree and, though not truly one-size-fits-all, they usually come off that way to me. What these works don’t do is delve into the energetic or spiritual nature of the tree, at least not in a way that explains how a tree’s spirit manifests itself in its physical form.

The Three Gunas
There are three types of gunas in Hindu religion: sattva (goodness, constructive, harmonious), rajas (passion, active, confused), and tamas (darkness, destructive, chaotic). And after last week, I feel like all apple varieties fall into one of these three categories (certainly each apple tree has some of each in its nature). I know I am taking a stretch with the use of these terms and using them horticulturally, but they seem so appropriate to deciding how one should approach pruning an individual, unique tree. All too often we impose our perceptions on how to prune a tree, rather than “reading” the tree and asking it how it wants to be pruned. A tree’s physical expression is usually impacted by rootstock, planting density, site, management style, and past history, but its guna is its inner being. How a specific tree is growing at a specific site under those local conditions should tell us all we need to know about how to prune that tree, not what the pomological pundits always say about variety X.

The Tamas Tree. A tamas tree is weak with low energy and susceptible to all sorts of pests and maladies. This could be a tree that has been neglected or one that is simply planted in the wrong spot. In essence this type of tree is lazy or sick or both, the proverbial couch potato of the horticultural world, and needs to get outside and exercise. There’s not much to do with a tree planted in the wrong site (e.g., too wet), but for a neglected tree there’s plenty that can be done.

The Rajas Tree. A rajas tree grows vigorously, throwing long lanky growth, blind wood, and is generally unruly. Calming an overactive tree usually only requires light pruning, more branch bending, leaving more branches than the rules state, or even scoring the trunk. Calming a rajas tree is important to ensuring a long, healthy, productive life.

The Sattvic Tree. Finally, a sattvic tree is one that is calm by nature, neither too vigorous nor too weak. Having achieved a balanced state, it is growing in a way that allows it to replenish fruiting wood at a sustainable rate, while producing apples without becoming wildly biennial. Once a tree enters this state there is not much the farmer needs to do except keep things in balance and intervene, perhaps with some light pruning, when necessary. Maybe read it some poetry.

I wish I could tell you how to prune each variety, every time. But the fact is that after so many years of pruning so many trees, all I can tell you is to have a conversation with your tree. Ask it what it needs. Then before you are done, ask it again. When the time is right, you’ll know, because the tree will tell you. The point is that it is your guidance that will help that tree achieve a sattvic state of calm and harmony with its surroundings. Ask the tree what it needs, not the other way around.