Newbie w/ trimming needed

kwaters14

Buck Fawn
Guys/gals been lurking here for a long time and want to say how much the forums and information is appreciated, both by myself and other fellow lurkers....I recently "took charge" of the family farm and have some obvious work to do on my apple trees. Please dont bash the messenger, i know they need work but i also know im not knowledgeable enough to just start hacking away. My dad planted these in 2020 and some years there are apples every where and the next little to none. Any recommendations on how and when to trim these bad boys would be much appreciated. There are 3 trees total and location is central OH. Keep up the great work. -KW
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Do you know what variety they are?
Tree #1 : I'd cut that low Y-branch off. Its growing up into the main tree. Looks like they all have a low branch.
Most trees are biennial bearing, especially when in poor soil.
 
Prof Kent and others are a lot more knowledgeable then I am, but I have been trimming my apple trees for a few years now.
Like Prof Kent, I would remove the lower branches, and then I would thin about 1/3 of the inside branches that aim towards the inside of the tree. Making the branches aim outward. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your trees don’t need to be trimmed totally in a year. Some trimming is better then none. Do it while the trees are dormant. I would do about a 1/3 of aiming in branches each year for the next 3 years. Space it out some. Don’t over think it, usually the tree will live through what ever you do to it. Depending on what type of trees they are, you usually want to trim back any competing main branch.
 
The nice thing about your pictures is that you can clearly see where the trees have transitioned from the more horizontal limb growth to the more vertical growth. Ideally you want to minimize the vertical and encourage any horizontal growth and work on extending that horizontal growth higher up. Vertical growth is not nearly as productive fruit wise as horizontal growth is. I AM NOT SAYING GO CUT THE TOPS OUT OF YOUR TREES! :emoji_relaxed: Number one thing we have to fix when folks call us to prune their trees is the results of cutting the top off the central leader. The result is often a thousand sucker branches, which works completely against what you are trying to accomplish.
 
Wish I could grow trees like that in one season...
 
Yes, makes me feel very inadequate. Lol. Do you think the OP meant 2010 or 2000?
 
That's a 20 year old tree... planted in 2020. :-)
 
I'd advise contacting a university resource / county extension office to get accurate advice on how & where to make your cuts. There are online videos that help also. Also look into "training" your trees for good crotch angles for more horizontal growth as Turkey Creek (TC) said.

What Prof. Kent and Turkey Creek posted are good advice. A few other rules of thumb I learned from guys on here and from several university sources ............
1. Prune out any diseased or damaged limbs.
2. Prune out limbs growing inward - toward the trunk.
3. Prune out any rubbing limbs - keeping the stronger, healthier limb as long as it grows outward from the trunk.
4. Prune out water sprouts - those vertically-growing, "straight up" shoots. They rob nutrients from the tree and fruit production.
5. Don't prune away more than 1/3 of your tree in any year.
6. MOST pruning is done while the trees are dormant. I prune ours in mid-March - camp is in N.C. Pa.

Some of the points I listed were mentioned by the guys' posts above.
 
Awesome, thank you guys for the info, will definitely start the process on the next trip to the farm.. Prof i couldnt tell you what kind they are, would have to wait till fall assuming they will produce again this coming year....And yes big typo i meant 2000, apologies
 
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