Any tips and advice about cutting back an old apple tree. It was here when we bought the house and I wails say has not been cut back in years. It is much too large it had loads of fruit last yr but all very small. Should I go lightly with the cut back or really go for it. I have only ever had cherrie trees before and they liked a hard prune back every few yrs any hints?
I have the same problem. I am going to have a good hack in the centre to allow better air flow, but only give a light pruning to the outer branches. If you really go for it all round you will almost certainly lose all hope of fruit this year.
A good rule of thumb is to never prune out more than 1/3 rd of the wood. If you set a lot of small apples and did not have a problem with fungus, a rather light pruning is called for. You probably neeed to thin the fruit to get fewer and larger apples. This can be done mechanically, or with a spray agent that causes fruit drop. For instance spraying with the organic insecticide seven will cause fruit drop and thin the tree. This is the only practical way to thin a large tree. If the plan is to reduce the overall size of the tree to make it easier to get to the fruit then a multi year plan is in order. Do not prune more than a third of the wood in any given year and be careful to keep the canopy balanced and open. My dad used to say prune so that you can through a cat through it, but I never saw hem throw a cat!
Hi Plymouth, further to the other replies, I'd like to add the following:-
start by removing any diseased or broken branches, next, any branches that are crossing and rubbing, then any that are growing towards the centre of the tree, then thin out the remainder evenly. This should have removed about the said 1/3. The problem with old trees is that they tend to make very little new growth (the reason for pruning in the first place)
You might find (depending on variety) that this coming year, if you have removed too much, that it makes alot of new sappy growth. If so, come first week of August, cut these back by 1/3 to an outward growing bud (they will then produce fruit spurs the following spring !!
The eventual aim is to get a balance between new growth and fruit (the fewer the fruit, within reason, the larger they will be. Aim for an 'open' and
'goblet' shaped tree. regards, Lannerman.
Over the next few years, prune it back hard. By that I mean to pick a major branch and to take that back hardin this year, next year pick another major branch and cut that back.
If you go at it all in one go, you will end up with more new growth than hair's on a dog's back.
Ther eare many web sites that give clear instructions for pruning all types of fruit trees. Also for larger apples it's a good practice to remove about half when fruit first forms.
TEST
Sheldon, I can see 6 different posts from you under 2 different names so your posts are appearing.
Thanks. My newsreader, Forte Agent, had an upgrade, more a downgrade with how inept they are. Their tech support is absolutely useless. I had to figure it out myself. I should know better than to bother with any on line commodity that doesn't give their phone number, those are all know nothing phoneys.
Well I hope your problems are overcome soon. At least your posts are making it through.
Agent is an impeccable program with excellent customer support online. Forte Agent is the archetype of Usenet newsreaders.
And there is always this, which is overflowing with experts on every version of the program:
alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent
Forte Agent has tech support via email only, not very efficient. And today they finally admit that their new upgrade presents multiple problems. I managed to make it operate at my end via work arounds and now hope their fiddling doesn't undo all I've accomplished.
If you are planning to do major pruning then do it in late autumn or early winter when the trees go dormant. Late winter and early spring is the best time to prune apple fruit trees. This should be done before the new bud appear. Remove all the old, dead, diseased and damaged branches from the tree. Also remove the branches that are weak, cross each other or grow downward. Make all the cuts flush with the main branch without damaging the bark.
Thank you both for your additional and very helpful replies, have taken both on board and will print off this whole thread for easier reference!
Hi lannerman, many thanks for the plant name and advice, I will be careful with watering and I think this one is a bit of a survivor as it was in an even more sorry state when I rescued it originally, so I think it will pull through! :o)
Best Regards,
STS
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------+HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.