Apple guys I need a favor...

[John-W-WI]

I have a friend that has an apple tree in their yard that has suffered from too much fruit and has split. It's still alive but in really rough shape.

I'm not much of an apple guy so I'm looking for someone willing to graft a few trees onto rootstock for me. I would ship the scions, pay for your effort, and pay to ship the grafted trees back to me when they are ready.

Can anyone out there help me?

Thanks,

John

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

 

[cavey]

Im right near you ... I will send you a pm

 

[chummer]

I have a friend that has an apple tree in their yard that has suffered from too much fruit and has split. It's still alive but in really rough shape.

I'm not much of an apple guy so I'm looking for someone willing to graft a few trees onto rootstock for me. I would ship the scions, pay for your effort, and pay to ship the grafted trees back to me when they are ready.

Can anyone out there help me?

Thanks,

John

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

Post a picture. I am pretty sure the tree can be saved. It might look ugly for a few years but apple trees are pretty tough.

 

[John-W-WI]

I have a friend that has an apple tree in their yard that has suffered from too much fruit and has split. It's still alive but in really rough shape.

I'm not much of an apple guy so I'm looking for someone willing to graft a few trees onto rootstock for me. I would ship the scions, pay for your effort, and pay to ship the grafted trees back to me when they are ready.

Can anyone out there help me?

Thanks,

John

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

Post a picture. I am pretty sure the tree can be saved. It might look ugly for a few years but apple trees are pretty tough.

Good idea. When I go collect the scions I'll snap some pictures.

Thanks!

John

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Merle Hawggard]

Check your PM John.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[John-W-WI]

Thanks everyone... I have a couple of people that have offered to do some grafting for me. As far as saving the tree, here are a bunch of pictures I took today when I harvested some scions.

The tree is a hot mess, and appears to have split in the past (I have never seen this tree before today). I agree if it can be saved that is probably the fastest way to get my friend back in apples. I appreciate everyone's thoughts on what to remove and how to get it back in action.

Thanks,

-John

 

[John-W-WI]

 

[cavey]

The tire iron made my do a double take... Yep that tree is a mess, cut out the diseased wood, prune it up a bunch and see what happens. Looks like he has lots of space to plant the grafted trees. I wouldnt get rid of the tree till you have the others established. But I would do an aggressive pruning of it and see if that triggers some new found vigor and growth,,, if it takes off he will have some added pruning to do over the next few years. Thats about all the advise on the tree I can give... a big living tree that has apples is always worth trying to save.

 

[John-W-WI]

Do I take that giant side branch off and clean up the rest? My guess is it split because of a similar side branch. If I leave that one it might do it again. I'm happy to give it a big hair cut and stay after it for a couple of years.

When I first bought my farm I had an apple tree that the electric company had given a hair cut. It took a LOT of cutting to get that tree back in decent shape. And it responded with a flush of growth that I couldn't believe. But over a couple years I kept it in check and it doesn't look too bad now. Despite my poor pruning skills.

-John

 

[chickenlittle]

Looks like it is lopsided with the side branch. I would not remove it but cut it about halfway back and leave just 2 or 3 smaller branches off it. It'll fruit a little but not put a huge load on the branch or tree. The top just needs heavily thinned and most of the upward growth removed. Get it to a size where it can be productive without destroying itself with a heavy crop of apples. I'd think it would respond nicely.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Based on info out there in apple publications, maybe don't go crazy on the pruning. Dead, diseased, or damaged wood prune out. The vertical, straight-up water sprouts need to go, but maybe not all of them in one year. Experts say to only prune 1/3 of a tree's canopy in one year - otherwise you'll get a new flush of water sprouts all over again. If a vertical shoot has sprouted side branches, I'd let those and take out the vertical "pencils" that are just vertical stick -type growth.

Too heavy of a haircut may repeat the situation and defeat the purpose of the pruning. You don't want to end up next winter with a tree that looks like a kid's spiked haircut - all straight up. FWIW.

 

[John-W-WI]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I hope to go see the tree again this weekend and give it a little attention. I will do my best not to remove too much. It might be interesting to see how it looks when all of the dead stuff is gone.

-John

 

[H20fwler]

The tree has some serious issues but could come out of it with some TLC.
I would lose the big low branch and open up the inside of the tree to let in some sun, most of the crazy branches are smaller it could be pruned good in a couple hours. Would also seal up everywhere it got pruned then spray the tree good for whatever fungus is making the bark black. Wouldn't use any tools that touched that tree on any others either.