Pruning Questions

[greyphase]

OK. So I'll admit to not being a diligent pruner in years gone by, but now I have a good number of trees grafted in the spring of 2014 and planted that fall and want to do it right. Here's a pic of a Brushy Mountain Limbertwig on B118 that has an 8 foot central leader and some real nice scaffold branches that are too low. Should I cut them all off this winter and prune the central leader back a foot or so, or should I only prune off several of the lowest branches this year and prune back the central leader so that the tree has enough branches to produce leaves for healthy growth and then prune off more of the low branches next year?

Example #2 is a Liberty on B118 of the same year that is a whip about 6 foot high. Was planning on pruning 1 foot off this tree to promote limb growth. Good idea or should I let it be and see how it branches out next summer? Also have some that are only about 4 foot tall whips. Should they be left alone to grow more height before topping off the leader?

These two examples are what my trees of the 2014 grafting year are looking like. Like most on this board I'm aiming for about a 5 foot first branch on my trees because of the deer. I'm at the age :eek: where I want to do it right to get the most & best growth out of them as soon as possible so that I can enjoy them. :)
As always suggestions, comments, and opinions are most welcomed.

Rick

 

[aerospacefarmer]

I think the top tree looks great and don't think much needs to be done. !aybe score the lower one to promote branching

 

[Turkey Creek]

Not familar with the variety of the top tree, so I dont know how well they like to grow laterals. You are getting a lot of central leader growth. I would either score above the buds where you want your first scaffold or remove the central leader at the same level. I would also be inclined to remove 1/2 of those laterals that you have already deemed to low to be permanent. No sense in growing that much wood that isnt going to be permanent.

Bottom tree I would cut the leader at 5'. I have found scoring to be hit or miss at times, pruning that centeal leader will force the laterals for sure.

The 4's I would allow to grow until they hit the 5' mark and then force the laterals. If you top the leader at 4' you are going to create branches at 4'.

 

[deepsleep]

Having a very high deer population, I have gone through the same thought processes. I have found that getting rid of most of the lower growth early doesn't change the time until you reach your goal with the tree--bearing with first scaffolds at 5 feet. I've tried multiple ways and have settled on getting rid of most growth below the cages. In your example, as T.C. also suggests, I would leave 1 or 2 of the lower scaffolds as pseudo-nurse branches. I tried cutting them all off every year on some and ended up with a lollipop look and probably slower overall growth. I also left all lower branches on some trees and was disheartened during the next year pruning to see the amount of wood the tree put on there versus the branches I was planning to keep long-term. As for the leader, I rarely top a tree and scaffolds seem to form. I know this is somewhat variety dependent as well. As for the second tree, I would let it grow out this year and see what happens. If it is getting enough sun, it should start to put on plenty of laterals.

 

[Maya]

Take out top right and bottom left, work on training those branches on that tree in the first pic. You can see the one on the top right wants to compete w/ the leader. Make sure remaining branches are going out at different directions.
Yes head back the whip a foot or so just above a good bud. Wait til spring for that.

 

[Maya]

When thinking about which branches to keep, 1) Make sure they are going out at different directions, but 2) very often you have aggressive and weak branches, these may be ones that need to go. Typically lower branches will be weak. Also keep a few other things in the back of your mind. Remaining branches will be slightly more aggressive. Balance around the tree is important. Watch your fertilizer, if you put down to much remaining branches will really get aggressive and harder to train.The more branches that remain on the tree, the less aggressive they will be. It's a balancing act!