Apple Trees

[Eric Wettschreck]

I have 7 apple trees in the back yard, semi dwarf approx 8 years old and they're doing great. However, I've never pruned them and I think they need it badly. (I'm a boilermaker, not a tree guy)

I've been told everything from pruning them until there is hardly no branches left to don't prune them at all. Is there some rule of thumb for pruning???

[Bobby Bass]

A simple rule of thumb with pruning is to remove all the hat takers, the lower branches that you don't clear your head. Any branches that are growing downward, your branches need to be vertical. Try and make all the trees at the same lower branch height, more pleasing to the eye. And you should have one main central trunk. That all said and done one of my apple trees could be the poster tree for needing pruning help but it produces great. Hard to make a mistake if you nip a little here and there, Just don't start taking off main branches. I would wait till fall to prune now, to much stress on the trees with this heat and lack of water..

[LABS4ME]

ALWAYS prune fruit trees in the dead of winter. Too many funguses, blights and insects that will get into the wound during the growing season. All orchards prune throughout the winter. I'm not a fruit tree expert, I'll just try to remember what I was taught in my "required" fruit production courses... I think they said to remove all interior branching, while keeping the overall shape and structure on the exterior of the tree natural. As stated no downward pointing branches and no crossing branches. If you have to prune back a main branch, prune it off 1/4" above a lateral branch that is pointing outward to become the "new" tip. Make sure all pruned branches are hauled far away form the trees as they can harbor insects in the dying wood for up to a year.

Good Luck!

Ken

[Powerstroke]

I would disagree with the comment about removing any branch that might hit you in the head. Sinc eyour trees are semi-dwarf they may not be very big in the first place.

I totally agree with Labs that you should only prune in the dormant season. At the company I used to work for we would spend most of Nov. doing apple tree pruning.

Start by thinning out the middle by removing any branches that are dead, broken or rubbing. If its still too thick then find smaller "sprouts" that are just growing in there for no good reason. If they don't have a future cause the canopy is already too thick, then cut it out. Finally then you can thin out the overall canopy by finding branches that can be removed that don't change the overall shape of the tree.

I may go looking for some fruit trees to photograph to demonstrate this. I personally think that pruning fruit trees is one of my specialties, so I will see if I can get a good photo for you to see.

[Steve Foss]

Good advice. I always pruned my apples in late fall.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Thanks for the info fellas. I was planning on waiting until late fall or winter to prune.

These are semi dwarfs, but they're about 10' tall. I was going to prune off some of the lower branches just so I can mow around them. I didn't know about the vertical branch thing, or the interior branches. Once again, thanks for the advice.

[Yukon Don]

I have a couple of Honey Crisp apple trees and this is the forth year for them. I have yet to see a blossom on these trees. Is this normal? They are about 7 fet tall now with good branching. What can be done to get them to start blossoming?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

[waskawood]

I planted 2 apple trees in 2000. A Honey crisp and a Harla-red. The Harla-red has been a consistant producer but with the Honey crisp I am lucky to get 6 apples every other year. Both are semi-dwarf trees. I was wondering the same as you. Do I plant a new tree or will it evidentually come around. I do love the few fruit that it produces.