Greenfalco

GF

1 hour ago, Gary Prentice said:

There are a short series on pruning written by the RHS available individually covering pruning (throughout the plant lives) which are a godsend for new comers. They tell you the time of year to prune, how and where to prune, how much to prune off. Well worth finding second hand as a reference book to everything - shrubs/fruits. climber/vine the lot.

 

It's not this one from amazon but this book is I think a compendium of all the other titles in the series. I'm away from home for a while but if no-one else can help I'll look it up.

 

Formative pruning, to creature a good framework of scaffold limbs can be difficult to create without practice because you're visually how pruning is going to effect future growth to allow you to develop the shape and form of the crown (within the bounds of the trees genetics to some extent). So, if you are are DIYing try to get a basic understand of the reactions you will cause.

 

While you are avidly understand how trees grow, one or two little jobs first.

1) are the trees well anchored in the soil? and not rocky about in the wind

2) grass around new trees is bad. Lots of competition for moisture and air from grass. Sort it out to provide the optimal conditions for tree growth.Good mulch (not piled up the stem)  of well decayed woodchip (Cherry, hawthorn good if you can get it 2-3" deep

Healthy vital/vigorous young trees respond best to pruning and the trees expansion growth will be better too. You don't want to prune and the wait a few years for new growth because the tree isn't establishing and growing well.

 

Looking at the photos you can do a bit towards achieving your goals, but consider trees as an investment. It'll take a bit of time and effort to achieve results but they will be worth it as you've done it yourself and moulded these living organisms to fulfil a need - quite satisfying.

Just get them growing optimally, tree planting on new sites is usually window dressing when all other contingency funds have been spent and the budget for fantastic planting pits, british standard compliant topsoils, drainage/irrigation and support are all top-notch specification. Chances are the ground worker is told to dig a hole other the a plant it and backfill with whatever came out pf the excavation. brick, rubble, gravel what ever. Sometimes you're lucky and the roots actually end up at the bottom of the stem and not waving at the new owner.

 

Do a bit more reading first but I'll happily try to answer more specific questions than you are asking in this post

ATB

Gary

Many thanks Gary, I’ll certainly look into them books/series. I’m afraid the specifications are far from top notch and there is plenty of rubble mixed in with the soil.

Kind regards,

GF

Hello, I am hoping to get a good sized canopy from this tree (I believe it is a crab apple tree) that will provide some privacy from the over looking house(s).

Is there anything I can do? I.e. pruning in a certain way?... I don’t know much about pruning, and when I look at videos/guides online, the wording/talk is very technical and confusing to me. I could do with a trees for dummies or pruning for absolute newbies guide!

It also looks like the tree’s canopy is trying to grow tall and thin, so is there something I need to do in particular to spread it out more?

Many thanks!

GF