Anyone doing any pruning yet? (2017 Pruning Thread)

[silver_yummies]

What do you know about them, variety, stock, etc...?

They are roughly 10 years old - semi-dwarf supposedly. No idea on actual rootstock. 1 is Honeycrisp, the other is Golden Delicious.

 

[H20fwler]

I'm trying to wait until the end of February, it's hard to hold off.

 

[H20fwler]

Any advice on where to begin on these 2 trees that have never seen a pruning shears?

It's kind of hard to tell looking at a pic at one angle, can't really see depth of the tree on what's close and what's far?

Tree on left I would open up the upper middle some and pick a main leader to let it keep going up, tree on right I would remove a lot of that stuff growing up and in and anything touching.
Hard to go wrong opening up the middle to let the light in, everyone is looking for different things when/why they prune...I want a tall tree low maintenance and high volume of fruit, my Dad always said he wanted to be able to sit on the ground to pick his apples so he cut anything that grew up or in and his trees kind of looked like weeping willows.

Pruning to me is so relaxing, I get in the zone and just trim a little at a time and step back to see if I need to take off more and think of all the times Dad and I would cut together discussing the worlds problems on an early spring day.

 

[Barndog56]

I've got a couple crabs that have never been pruned. Will i be able to use the cuttings from pruning them to grow some new ones?

 

[greyphase]

I've got a couple crabs that have never been pruned. Will i be able to use the cuttings from pruning them to grow some new ones?

You have to use one year old wood for grafting.

 

[greyphase]

silver yummies (there has to be a story behind that handle)
:D
I agree with H20 crossing branches, branches growing inward, and don't prune over 1/3 of the growth off the tree this year.

 

[silver_yummies]

silver yummies (there has to be a story behind that handle)
:D
I agree with H20 crossing branches, branches growing inward, and don't prune over 1/3 of the growth off the tree this year.

My handle just references Coors Light.

Thanks for the advice guys. I will do just that in another month.

 

[Apple Junkie]

I unleashed the Stihl this past Saturday. The "tops" were browsed by Sunday morning - win win.