I wanted to ask the experienced collectors out there a couple of questions, which on paper seem to make sense, yet seem to contradict the "norm" when it comes to collecting.
Let's talk about hawthorn, as I've just come across a goldmine of them locally
I've spoken to some very experienced collectors and they all say to prune off the unwanted braches at point of collection, dig it up, pot it, voila. Normally speaking we then see a stump in a box/pot and wait for budding/shoots over the next season or two. We then nurse it and we take it very slowly and steadily.
However, lets take a moment to think about the time of year we are collecting. Why are we collecting in spring, just as buds are swelling? This is mainly, I believe, because the roots have sent all of the stored nutrients back up into the tree. This gives us a window of opportunity to dig it up, lose some root(which has already sent off it's stored energy anyway), and allow the tree to makes leaves, which will in turn sunlight into energy, and push it back down, facilitating new root growth. Fast forward 2-3 seasons or so and hopefully we'll have a fairly healthy tree which we could possibly start to work on.
Here's the bit I want to question:
Why not cut all unwanted branching off in the winter BEFORE the movement of sap?
Why are we allowing the tree to fill these branches with sap, and then chopping them off, losing most of the goodness the roots have sent up, and crippling the tree's resources before we've even started? Why wouldn't we prune it down in winter, then wait for the roots to send up that energy to dormant/latent buds and accelerate the healing process, not losing half/most of it at the collection time?
Surely what we'd then get is loads of new shoots everywhere, helping the tree to recover faster?
I'd really love to hear the thoughts of experienced collectors in particular on this one
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