Apple trees

[Joe d]

Hi all , over the years I've only ever pruned Apple trees sympatheticly, recently I've been asked to reduce a whole orchard of 20 ft trees by approx 50 % this coming autumn , I'm presuming they'll come back fine ? Any thoughts ? This is a customer request by the way , many of the trees are intertwined and competing for light and have never been touched , also removing the odd one is not an option, thanks 

[Stere]

Better to do it gradually over say 3yrs yrs as 50% all at once will most likely ruin the trees as will result in a mass of watershoots.

 

Also im assuming you mean 50% volume not height.

Edited September 2, 2020 by Stere

[Peasgood]

50% is harsh but they'll survive. Will be extra amount of watershoots as said.

Worst mistake I regularly see is excess branches reduced in length rather than removed altogether. This just makes what we refer to as feather dusters, branches with loads of useless wispy bits coming out of the end.

Keep the main limbs, but open out the centres by removing upright growth. Avoid big cuts (wounds) as they are prime entry points for silverleaf disease.