pruning flowering crab trees

[matchset]

is it too late to do? they are not leafed out yet, just north of the twin cities.

[Steve Foss]

Prune away. Now is a fine time. Deciduous trees as a rule heal most quickly just as growth is starting, so you're not too late at all.

You'll be pruning away potential flowers if you do it now because apples flower on previous years' growth. For that reason, I generally prune just after flowers are done on crabs, which still leaves almost a full growing season for the tree to adjust to the pruning. And whatever grows after the pruning will put out flowers/fruit next spring.

But overall it's slightly easier for the tree to heal if you do it now. It's also easier to see how the limbs are oriented with no leaves/flowers on the tree, which allows you to shape the tree based on structure instead of being thrown off by foliage.

I have in the past flagged branches to trim on crabs this time of year so when I came in after flowering I'd be sure to trim the right ones.

[matchset]

thanks steve! i've pruned a lot of apple trees, but never a flowering grab... just didn't wanna do anything devastating since their not my trees.

[Steve Foss]

Matchset, the only real difference, practically speaking, in how I prune apple and crabapples is that apples are pruned for fruit production rather than beauty, and with flowering crabs it's the other way around. So with a flowering crab I'm very interested in achieving a pleasing shape and balance. With an apple tree, not so much.

[Bowfin]

When I prune apples I dip the pruners in a 10% bleach solution after every cut in case there is any blight on the tree it wont spread through the pruning process.

[matchset]

Matchset, the only real difference, practically speaking, in how I prune...for fruit production rather than beauty

very true! thats what we were trying to achieve. they're young trees. and after fertilizing them last year, they sprouted many "suckers".... making them look more like bushes!

[Steve Foss]

Same thing with the Hopa Crab we planted about three years ago. A fella really has to keep on top of it to keep pruning out those suckers, as well as the branches themselves when they want to cross other branches or grow back toward the trunk. A person has to be patient, because it can take 10 years of pruning each year before you get a crab that's got nice space between branches, yet looks full and with a pleasing shape.

Even though I've been pruning trees and shrubs for a gazillion years, I still use "The Pruning Book" by Lee Reich as a reference. It's still in print.

I'm all for keeping information here on the forums, but some things are just a little complicated to explain, ya know?

[Dotch]

I agree. As an apple/crabapple/fruit tree pruner of longstanding, one of the things I have difficult time with is telling someone exactly how to do it. No 2 trees are exactly alike. Most of what I've seen here fits in with what I've been taught by the nursery person I happened to marry. Odd how I do the work and she supervises however. She does jump me if I mention pruning during the season due to fireblight and while as bowfin mentions I could do the bleach trick, I prefer to prune during February-March when I'm looking for something constructive to do between ewes lambing on the weekend. Dipping the pruners after each cut as large as these trees are could be time consuming and I could miss out on a nap.

The 20 year old Red Splendor crab is/was a very graceful, flowing tree and took some doing to get it that way. In a storm last August a 50' ash tree landed on it and essentially split it in two. It remains to be seen whether or not it will survive. I have 5 more coming this spring even if it doesn't. The same age Indian Magic tree is a different animal. It grows more laterally than it does horizontally. However there have been fewer suckers and watersprouts along with being shorter in stature. The other thing that needs to be considered at our establishment is ease of mowing underneath. Few things torque me off more than running over my glasses with the mower.

[LwnmwnMan2]

I COMPLETELY relate to that last line Dotch!!!!

[Dotch]

I mean