Orchard People Fruit Tree Care Education

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!

This was an excellent course and certainly the most comprehensive educational resource tool for managing fruit trees that I have encountered. I have been an arborist for more than 25 years and it was humbling and exciting to learn new information that I can apply and share with colleagues and clients. I greatly appreciate the tremendous time and effort Susan has spent to create such a well-structured, easy to understand, and enjoyable online course that can meet the needs of everyone from the novice to the professional. -Wenda Li Elite Tree Care, Toronto

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!

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!

Very clearly explained. Easy to understand presentation. A lot of information, but don't be intimidated.

This was an excellent course and certainly the most comprehensive educational resource tool for managing fruit trees that I have encountered. I have been an arborist for more than 25 years and it was humbling and exciting to learn new information that I can apply and share with colleagues and clients. I greatly appreciate the tremendous time and effort Susan has spent to create such a well-structured, easy to understand, and enjoyable online course that can meet the needs of everyone from the novice to the professional. -Wenda Li Elite Tree Care, Toronto

This course is simply taught but chock full of valuable information, resources, guidance and my favorite - Susan explains what didn't work in their orchard and within her own garden and most importantly WHY!! So many resources just tell you what doesn't work, but rarely do they explain why. Thank you Susan and Orchard People for making your mistakes and openly teaching us why and how to avoid and/or prevent us from making similar mistakes! -Sarah van der Stam, Kitchener Master Gardener-

Susan Poizner has created a comprehensive course in fruit tree care. She organized the material in clear and logical manner. The variety of presentations made the learning material fun and always interesting.

This course on fruit tree care was informative and easy to follow. Lots of information packed into the video lessons, with helpful visuals and Susan's voice is very easy to listen to. For me, the art and visuals shown in the videos was most helpful in understanding what the lessons will look like when applied. Great course!