Apple tree pruning

[RobG 86]

Morning all, hope you’re all well was wondering if anyone would have pictures of mature apple trees, they’ve pruned and reduced in size? Thanks in advance. 

[Peasgood]

 

[sime42]

Harsh!

 

Go on ...... What's going on there then?

[Jon Lad]

[Peasgood]

@Jon Lad for the sake of discussion would you be offended if I said what I would have done different and why?

This would be me looking at it from a commercial apple grower.

[Peasgood]

1 hour ago, sime42 said:

Harsh!

 

Go on ...... What's going on there then?

Grubbing an old mature orchard. Sad in some ways because it had been there most of my life but about 25% were already missing from disease.

[Jon Lad]

47 minutes ago, Peasgood said:

@Jon Lad for the sake of discussion would you be offended if I said what I would have done different and why?

This would be me looking at it from a commercial apple grower.

Sure, no problem. 
Although that tree is purely for screening and as a garden feature, they don’t use the apples; hence why it was pruned as an ornamental. 

[Peasgood]

6 hours ago, Jon Lad said:

Sure, no problem. 
Although that tree is purely for screening and as a garden feature, they don’t use the apples; hence why it was pruned as an ornamental. 

Cheers, and my comments will be on how to prune an apple tree for fruit production rather than as an ornamental as you have done. Apple trees in gardens often serve a different purpose than in an orchard as you point out that in this case it is for screening first and foremost.

The main difference is that rather than reducing the length of branches as in the above pics the branch would be removed entirely. So rather than having all the branches still there but shorter the tree would be reduced by having less total number of branches, so thinned out by maybe a third.

All those cuts will produce loads of new shoots which will all attempt to grow upright. The reason you cut the whole branch off is so those new shoots are either where you can easily reach to remove them or so they are coming from a point on the tree where the new growth can be used to shape the tree how you want it.

Apples normally fruit best on growth that is 3-5 years old so you constantly have replacement growth forming on the tree. When you prune you are keeping some young growth for the replacement fruiting branches and removing the older branches that are past their best production levels, while also keeping the tree in the shape or even size that you want. The trees in the pic appear to be pretty big but with careful pruning they can be brought into a much more compact size, easier to prune and any fruit is more accessible for picking.

In order to get a good cropping tree it is far better to cut branches right off than to shorten them a bit, shortening branches just results in a flush of new growth that needs removing annually and you never get the 3 year old wood that will carry a crop. The owner then wants to know why they never get any apples.

Another good reason to get as big a crop as possible is that the tree then grows less and needs less pruning, but if you are earning good money pruning the mass of growth each year maybe that isn't what you want.

A problem that comes with making big cuts to thin a tree out is they are highly susceptible to silverleaf infection. It becomes a difficult choice.

 

thank you @Jon Lad for letting me use your pics to try and answer the op, assuming they don't just want a screen.

[Jon Lad]

You're welcome Peasgood.

Thank you for such a succinct and really informative post.

Edited March 18, 2023 by Jon Lad

[RobG 86]

Thanks all for the photos and the information. Much appreciated.