Advice on an old Apple Tree

[alanhely]

Hi and thx for reading.

 

Following moving I'm looking to revitalise an old Apple Tree.

 

This is what it looks like today. I had the old branches removed.

 

From what I read it looks like the vertical branches need removing..... any advice welcome.

 

Thx.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

First off as said by others leave the uprights as they are at the moment.

If you remove them now you will probably end up with silver leaf.

this summer you will get a lot of water shoots from the larger cuts,

when this happens let them get to about 12inches then tie them down so they are pointing towards the ground. this will reduce the wood bud forming and increase the fruit bud forming this will reduce the vigor of the new growth.

you will kneed to do this to manage/ control the tree.

next winter start removing the strong upright growth by about 50%.

then remove the rest the following winter.

do you have any other apple trees in your garden, you will kneed some for pollination.

the original frame work of your tree was called delayed open centre.

 

 

like I said, what Gollum dont know about fruit, aint worth knowing:thumbup1:

[alanhely]

Thanks Gollum.

 

I do have another Apple tree close to this one but something is living in it! It's badly infected on one main branch. It has lots more branches though. And I do get Apples from it each year.

 

If you work in this business and are near SL7 anytime then I'd welcome the support on this one. Will pay of course. I love this tree and to see it under control and healthy is the goal. If that takes years ok with me. Not moving :-)

Alan