Practical demonstration of sap/leaf sampling on fruit trees emphasizing how to select branches and leaves for accurate nutrient analysis. Key points: avoid branches with fruit (fruits skew nutrient readings), collect both old and new leaves from the same branch to correlate data, use fully developed/hardened leaves (avoid petioles), and keep samples separated and correctly labeled in different bags.
Chapters
Young and old bags here. I want to do is find a branch that doesn't have fruit on it. The nutrients that are getting taken out of the leaves and pulled into these fruits are going to skew that reading. I don't want a branch with fruit on it. I want to collect old and new from the same branch because then our data is more correlated. This is a more accurate representation of this leaf pull, pulling nitrogen from this leaf. So I have these fully developed leaves here. They're fully hardened off. That's really important. I don't want the petiole. Don't test petioles at the lab that we use the same branch. But I'm going further down and these are old. It does take longer to do it like this because I can't just run around with one bag. I have to keep track of two different bags. But it does give a more accurate result. You always double check your bag, make sure you're putting it in the right bag.