Critique my pruning.

[Mahindra3016]

Not knowing the rootstock, I'd use a piece of conduit as well. Can't hurt to have a support to keep growth of the leader straight. I have to pound some conduit in on 3 of our trees, even knowing the rootstock. Sometimes trees don't follow the playbook !!

I think your pruning looks good. I'd score the leader above the highest branches to push new limbs, and then use clothes pins to set good crotch angles on those. I score my leaders so there are limbs coming off the leader in different directions and varying heights to keep the tree balanced. I scored some of our trees this past weekend while pruning on trees much like yours in the pics. Credit Maya's advice !!

Surrounding countryside looks pretty good for a view, Mahindra !! Ridge and Valley region is awesome.

Ag-lock is a good support linkage to use. ( Your above question ).

Thank you, We do love our view, I was able to purchase the ground from my grandparents farm before they had to sell out years ago, The view is over looking Morrisons Cove Northern Bedford County. The southern end of Raystown Lake is not to far on the other side of the mountain in the distance.

 

[Mahindra3016]

I have something similar to ag lock, hmm somewhere in the garage...

 

[aerospacefarmer]

Do you have to pound the conduit into the ground? I'm just wondering about harming roots.

Yes it needs to support so it should be in the ground pretty well or it will fall over with the tree

 

[NE PA QDM]

I have lots of flagging tape laying around for marking trees and making trails etc so I use that to tie central leaders to conduit. It works decently enough to keep a leader growing straight and still allow to flex in the wind a bit. It's not strong enough to support the weight of a tree with a bunch of apples on it but it sounds like your trees are still young. Mine usually lasts around 2 seasons before I need to replace it.

 

[Wild Thing]

I start pruning - actually training a fruit tree the day I plant it - the sooner the better. Why feed a branch that you know you do not want to keep. I continue to remove all the lower branches, 1 or 2 at a time until the bottom branches are 4-5 feet above ground level. I remove quite a few branches in the spring when I plant the tree and will generally remove a couple more later in the summer. In the spring I cut some more ... then again in mid summer until I get the look that I want.

I know some folks like to train for a "whorl' of lateral branches on a central leader and then move up 1 1/2 - 2 foot and have another whorl. I just like to have 4 or 5 main lateral branches alternating on either side of the central leader to kind of balance it out.



Alternating lateral branches:

 

[Charman03]

Wow wildthing, great looking trees. How old are those in the last picture?

What are you using to establish the branch angles? Just cut a length of wood and notch each end?

 

[Wild Thing]

Wow wildthing, great looking trees. How old are those in the last picture?

What are you using to establish the branch angles? Just cut a length of wood and notch each end?

Thank you Charman03. Those were 9 year old Cortlands. Here is what they looked like in the spring last year. I planted them in 2008 and they have been producing every year without fail for many years. The second photo is the same trees in 2013 when they were 5 years old - loaded with apples.

Yes - I just cut a length of lath and notch the ends. I insert them in the branches that need to be spread when I plant them in the spring. By late summer the branches have been trained outward and a stiff breeze will blow the spreaders off sometimes. One growing season is all it takes.





5 year old Cortlands:

 

[Northbound]

The alternating branches look so good when full of leaves and fruit but I always get in the even sets of branches mindset when pruning. It's hard for my head to allow it when the tree is bare for some reason

 

[Charman03]

Thank you Charman03. Those were 9 year old Cortlands. Here is what they looked like in the spring last year. I planted them in 2008 and they have been producing every year without fail for many years. The second photo is the same trees in 2013 when they were 5 years old - loaded with apples.

Yes - I just cut a length of lath and notch the ends. I insert them in the branches that need to be spread when I plant them in the spring. By late summer the branches have been trained outward and a stiff breeze will blow the spreaders off sometimes. One growing season is all it takes.



View attachment 17437

5 year old Cortlands:

View attachment 17438

Very nice. What rootstock?

 

[Wild Thing]

Very nice. What rootstock?

Not sure on the rootstock Charman. I have been buying 10 apple trees per year for many years from a supplier in Minnesota. Some have been on semi-dwarf M-7 rootstock but the vast majority have been Standard sized trees. I suppose I could ask the distributor I get them from but generally I just look for what he has in Standard sized trees and don't worry about rootstock.

 

[David M. Taylor]

Thank you Charman03. Those were 9 year old Cortlands. Here is what they looked like in the spring last year. I planted them in 2008 and they have been producing every year without fail for many years. The second photo is the same trees in 2013 when they were 5 years old - loaded with apples.

Yes - I just cut a length of lath and notch the ends. I insert them in the branches that need to be spread when I plant them in the spring. By late summer the branches have been trained outward and a stiff breeze will blow the spreaders off sometimes. One growing season is all it takes.

Those Cortland trees are gorgeous! Cortland is my favorite apple and I am planting one this spring for the second time -- my previous one died of fireblight. Since I know Cortland is a tip bearing tree with no real spurs to speak of, I would be very interested to learn more from you or others about how you prune (or don't prune) and if you are able to prevent long branches of blind wood. By the time my last tree died, the branches were all several feet long with nearly zero leaves until you got way out to the tips -- way too much "blind wood" if you're familiar with that term. I wish to avoid that next time around. I wonder if I need to tip more branches early to induce spreading instead of avoiding tipping to keep more fruit buds. Need to strike some kind of careful balance I think.

 

[Charman03]

You have a really nice orchard that's for sure. What's your spray process like?

 

[aerospacefarmer]

Awesome Orchard there wild thing those are some awesome trees and love the fence you have wish I could do that

 

[Wild Thing]

Thanks for the kind words guys. Years ago Bill Mayo wrote a couple of articles in Quality Whitetails magazine about planting and maintaining apple trees. Much of what I do today came from those articles. Here are my notes which may answer some of your questions:

Apple Orchard - Notes

Soil Tests – Maintain Ph of 6.3 – 6.7. Plant well above the water table to avoid root rot. Apple trees do not like “wet feet”.

Preferred Rootstock – Winter-hardy, semi-dwarf – i.e. M7, M111, Bud 118, or G30.

Planting: Take notice of the “bud union” where the tree was grafted to the rootstock. On dwarf and semi-dwarf trees the bud union should be 2-3 inches above the soil level. On standard size trees the bud union should be 1-2 inches below soil level.

Bill Mayo’s Favorite Apple Trees

1 – Honeycrisp 5 - Jonafree
2 – Liberty 6 - Empire
3 – Honeygold 7 – Northwest Greening
4 – Enterprise

Our Favorites

1 – Honeycrisp
2 – Red Wealthy
3 - Cortland

Fertilization - Spring/Early Summer Only (when trees are fully leafed out). Fertilize around drip line (also for Oaks & Beech) with 19-19-19 or 7-27-27 slow release fertilizer then cover with leaves or mulch to retain moisture. Follow up with a second application 6 weeks later, but no later than July 1. Apply no more than ½# of fertilizer per year of growth. In preparation for winter months, move the mulch about 8” away from the tree trunk to prevent mice & voles from girdling the bark.

Herbicides – Spray glyphosate (Roundup) around the base of trees to reduce competition from ground vegetation. Trees will be 30%-35% larger by the 4th year.

Fungicides/Insecticides – The most important spraying is a dormant oil spray (Gordon’s) in late winter/early spring before buds open. This helps prevent scale (fungus disease) plus mite and other insect eggs from hatching. Scale can lower fruit production to zero.

Fungicide – Captan 50 WP or 70 WP (wettable powder) – Insecticide – Imidan (phosmat) 80 WP. Wear full personal protection – including latex gloves when mixing/spraying. Mix Captan and Imidan together at the rate of 2-3 tablespoons each per gallon of water in your tank sprayer. Use 3-4 cover sprays/year at 10 day intervals. The first spraying should be just before bloom (Imidan is toxic to bees – do not spray in bloom). Next, spray after pedal fall when 90% of pedals have fallen. 3rd spraying 10 days later.

Protecting Trees – Spray or paint trunks with a mixture of 50% interior water-based white latex paint and 50% water. Do not use oil-based paints.

Or, fold a single sheet of 24” high aluminum window screening around trunk and staple along the edge & seam. Tuck bottom edge into the soil.

Or, surround the trunk with 1/4” hardware cloth - 24” high. The H C can be wired together and loosened in future years to allow for growth.

Fence individual trees with 6’ 2”X4” welded wire. Fence orchards of 10-25 trees with 8’-9’ high fence. My orchard fence is only 6' high and I have never had a deer jump it.

Pruning – Buy Felco #8 (F8) Right Handed pruning shears. 8 ¼” long – 8.5 oz $46.

Felco holster (F910) is another $11. Free shipping from Felco. Clean pruning shears with a solution of bleach & water between trees so you don’t pass diseases from one tree to another.

Pear Trees

Do not plant pear trees in close proximity to apple trees as they are a good host of Fireblight. This comes direct from Bill Mayo. I have never planted any pear trees and have no further knowledge of this issue.

 

[Wild Thing]

Those Cortland trees are gorgeous! Cortland is my favorite apple and I am planting one this spring for the second time -- my previous one died of fireblight. Since I know Cortland is a tip bearing tree with no real spurs to speak of, I would be very interested to learn more from you or others about how you prune (or don't prune) and if you are able to prevent long branches of blind wood. By the time my last tree died, the branches were all several feet long with nearly zero leaves until you got way out to the tips -- way too much "blind wood" if you're familiar with that term. I wish to avoid that next time around. I wonder if I need to tip more branches early to induce spreading instead of avoiding tipping to keep more fruit buds. Need to strike some kind of careful balance I think.

Thanks David - I have never experienced any of the "blind wood" issues that you mentioned - either on my Cortlands or any of the other varieties I have planted. I have become a "Stickler" for properly training my trees early on but I have to admit that I probably don't prune as diligently as I should. I generally only prune about every other year. I remove all of the branches which are growing either straight up or straight down and any of those which are crossing another branch. Other than that, I just try to remove enough wood to get some sunlight into the tree. We still have quite a bit of snow on the ground here but I will be pruning my trees probably in the next week or two so I will try to take some photos of before and after and post them later.

 

[Wild Thing]

Looks very good. Keep up the good work. One small comment, just in case: Make sure you don't remove fruit spurs. It's very hard from these pictures to see if you have any spurs developing on there. These will be short stubby "branches" only about 1 inch long, where the flowers and fruit will eventually happen. If these are removed, you might never get fruit. I just want to make sure you're aware of that.

FYI... My dwarf trees had fruit after just 1-3 years. My semidwarf on the other hand didn't fruit for 7 or 8 years! Hopefully you have better luck than I have.

I am glad that you pointed this out David. It may seem like a moot point for experienced growers but I wish someone had pointed this out to me 25 years ago as I am sure I pruned off hundreds of fruiting spurs when I first started. As embarrassing as it may sound, I didn't have a clue and assumed they were the "upright" branches that needed to be removed. It was quite a few years before I realized I was shooting myself in the foot. You are right on though....if you want fruit, you have to keep the fruiting spurs.

Last year I removed quite a few apples from the trees I had planted just last spring and I removed 40-50 apples from trees I had planted the previous spring. You don't want the energy going to grow apples on those young trees - you want it all to go into the root structure and primary stem and laterals.

 

[Mortenson]

Is anyone else adhering to the rule of not planting pear trees near apple trees? I think I missed the memo somewhere along the way. :/

 

[Natureboy]

Beautiful orchard Wildthing, you can see that many hours of hard work have gone in to planting and maintaining. So nice!

 

[Wild Thing]

Thanks so much Natureboy. It doesn't happen overnight as you know....but as the old adage goes...."you get out of it what you put into it"

I planted a 20 tree orchard in 1995 and fenced each tree individually with 20' of 2"X4"X72" welded wire which made a 5'x5' square enclosure. After a few years when the trees outgrew the fencing I had to remove them. That is when the black bears became my nemesis. They started climbing up and breaking down the branches so they could eat apples from ground level. I have only 3 of the original 20 trees remaining there. Sooooo....I started this orchard up near the house and barn and fenced it in entirely. I don't have issues with deer or bears....although Voles got me pretty bad a few years ago.

Bear damage:



Vole damage:



I was able to save a few that had not been girdled entirely but 6 of them were so bad I decided to just pull them out and start over. This hurt bad enough to almost make a grown man cry!



Replacements are coming along...

 

[Wild Thing]

This was a hard lesson learned but now all of my trees are protected with 1/4" hardware cloth. Every year or two I loosen it up some. Eventually they will get big enough that the voles won't be able to chew them. I also spray a 3'-4' diameter circle around the base of the trees to kill the vegetation. When voles are crawling through the grass under the snow - hopefully they will turn and go back into the grass when they hit the bare spots.



It takes several years to draw a bear permit around here but we try to thin them out some when we can draw one. My wife got this one this year (2017).