Raising a fruit orchard in the backyard is a common desire. In fact, in the spring of 2023, information on starting a fruit orchard has been the second most sought after horticulture information at the Boone County Extension Office, only beaten by those concerned about evergreen plants damaged by the winter storm. 

While many people start home orchards, very few understand how to take care of that orchard. Many orchards that are planted are never pruned or sprayed with fungicides or insecticides. Because of this knowledge gap, a program was offered to teach clients how to properly prune apple, pear, plum, and peach trees in the home orchard. Some of the skills that were taught include sharpening hand tools, which tool is right for the cut, three point cuts on heavy branches, what the different parts of a tree are (what a fruiting spur is), central leader pruning, open center pruning (peach trees), and staking of fully dwarf trees. During the program, attendees were given the opportunity to prune apple and pear trees under the supervision of the instructor. To best use the orchard's resources, apple shoots were saved from the pruning to be used for apple grafting classes in Boone, Kenton, and Campbell counties.

The program was attended by fifteen members of the community and five or these attendees completed surveys. These five attendees gave the highest mark on the scale (0-5) for all of the categories evaluated. Through conversation during and after the class, most attendees were interested in pruning apple and pear trees. Feedback also indicated that it would be helpful to give a pruning demonstration on a mature and overgrown orchard.