Need help with pruning
- Thread starter Haus
- Start date
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
There are guys with more experience than me here for sure. I've learned a great deal from them and also from the Penn State publication Fruit Production for the Home Gardener, and SLN's guide to apple tree care. I can relate what I've done at my camp and the results.
Generally - for wildlife plantings ( and small-scale operations ) - the shape you want to achieve is like a Christmas tree. Narrow at the top and wider at the bottom. The reason is good sunlight exposure to all limb levels and good air flow to keep diseases from setting up shop in your trees. Most guides I've read ( and advice I've gotten on here ) say to pick a central leader. You want to pick the most vigorous vertical shoot and prune off any other shoots that are competing with it. ( On your pic of the Wolf River, I'd prune off the competing shoot on the right in your pics - the skinnier one of the 2 major vertical shoots. ) This will give more strength to the chosen " leader " and it will grow higher, faster.
The one you have labelled "Different tree" - I'd prune off the shoot veering to the right of the straight central trunk ( leader ) because it's competing with the main trunk in "reaching for the sky". Your tree are still pretty young, so letting the rest of the limbs on the trees for this summer wouldn't be a big problem - IMO - so the trees can have more leaf surface to soak up the sun and build your root systems. Next winter, I'd take a closer look at shaping the trees. You can't get to the final shape of your trees in a year or 2 - it takes a little pruning each year and using limb spacers, clothes pins, or limb tie-downs to get a finished tree. I would prune off any of those small, spindly horizontal shoots that are lower down the trunks though. They'll just eat up nourishment that the rest of the trees can use to grow taller.
The angles that the branches grow out from the central leader should be at about 45 to 60 degrees from the central leader. ( 90 degrees would be straight out from the trunk. ) This gives more strength to the crotches of the branches to handle heavier fruit loads as the trees get into production. Narrower, more "straight-up" branches are weaker and will break from apple weight or snow loads much more easily. You don't want that. I used clothes pins attached to the central leader just above a new limb to force the limb to grow at a better angle. This is best done when the tree is young and forming it's branches. Clothes pins don't work on bigger, woodier limbs. I wanted the lowest limbs to be at 5 ft. or higher from the ground to avoid browse damage, so It took several years of growing, pruning and shaping to get that result.
One of the guys to ask is Maya on here. He gives great advice to any newer apple growers. I've learned a huge amount from him and he has a big orchard - knows his stuff. So does Appleman on here, if he'll chime in. They are more experienced than me and can help you better with the timing of your pruning and shaping as it relates to the age of your trees.
I can tell you that by doing the type of pruning I've described on my own trees at camp, they've grown very well and have good shapes. I give the credit to the guys on here - Maya, Appleman, Crazy Ed, and several others, some of whom are no longer contributing here. Also to the Penn State and SLN guides. I hope this helps some.
Generally - for wildlife plantings ( and small-scale operations ) - the shape you want to achieve is like a Christmas tree. Narrow at the top and wider at the bottom. The reason is good sunlight exposure to all limb levels and good air flow to keep diseases from setting up shop in your trees. Most guides I've read ( and advice I've gotten on here ) say to pick a central leader. You want to pick the most vigorous vertical shoot and prune off any other shoots that are competing with it. ( On your pic of the Wolf River, I'd prune off the competing shoot on the right in your pics - the skinnier one of the 2 major vertical shoots. ) This will give more strength to the chosen " leader " and it will grow higher, faster.
The one you have labelled "Different tree" - I'd prune off the shoot veering to the right of the straight central trunk ( leader ) because it's competing with the main trunk in "reaching for the sky". Your tree are still pretty young, so letting the rest of the limbs on the trees for this summer wouldn't be a big problem - IMO - so the trees can have more leaf surface to soak up the sun and build your root systems. Next winter, I'd take a closer look at shaping the trees. You can't get to the final shape of your trees in a year or 2 - it takes a little pruning each year and using limb spacers, clothes pins, or limb tie-downs to get a finished tree. I would prune off any of those small, spindly horizontal shoots that are lower down the trunks though. They'll just eat up nourishment that the rest of the trees can use to grow taller.
The angles that the branches grow out from the central leader should be at about 45 to 60 degrees from the central leader. ( 90 degrees would be straight out from the trunk. ) This gives more strength to the crotches of the branches to handle heavier fruit loads as the trees get into production. Narrower, more "straight-up" branches are weaker and will break from apple weight or snow loads much more easily. You don't want that. I used clothes pins attached to the central leader just above a new limb to force the limb to grow at a better angle. This is best done when the tree is young and forming it's branches. Clothes pins don't work on bigger, woodier limbs. I wanted the lowest limbs to be at 5 ft. or higher from the ground to avoid browse damage, so It took several years of growing, pruning and shaping to get that result.
One of the guys to ask is Maya on here. He gives great advice to any newer apple growers. I've learned a huge amount from him and he has a big orchard - knows his stuff. So does Appleman on here, if he'll chime in. They are more experienced than me and can help you better with the timing of your pruning and shaping as it relates to the age of your trees.
I can tell you that by doing the type of pruning I've described on my own trees at camp, they've grown very well and have good shapes. I give the credit to the guys on here - Maya, Appleman, Crazy Ed, and several others, some of whom are no longer contributing here. Also to the Penn State and SLN guides. I hope this helps some.
Last edited:
WTNUT
5 year old buck +
Well I will say you have good strong posts for your cages! I use electrical conduit, but wish I had all the t-post I threw away when I bought the first tract of land at the farm and began cleaning it up. There was a lot to clean up and I took down and threw away TONS of t-posts. I didn't know apple cages were in my future at the time.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
WTNUT
5 year old buck +
My deer season is over other than perhaps another doe. Therefore, every time I go to sit in the stand (which is more or less all I am doing now), I look at all those apple trees and I am itching to prune come the second half of February. Luckily I don't have a ton to do. I try to stay on top of them as opposed to letting them get away from me as I did in the past. Training is equally important if not more important for young trees.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
WTNUT
5 year old buck +
My deer season is over other than perhaps another doe. Therefore, every time I go to sit in the stand (which is more or less all I am doing now), I look at all those apple trees and I am itching to prune come the second half of February. Luckily I don't have a ton to do. I try to stay on top of them as opposed to letting them get away from me as I did in the past. Training is equally important if not more important for young trees.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Similar threads
