What happens when you prune the tip of a long branch

[aerospacefarmer]

Once planted, I've avoiding heading off the central leader. I let the trees get as tall as they want unless I have to correct something, replace a damaged leader or whatever. I've just done my best to remove the competition for the leader and get to good scaffolding.

Reminds me that I wanted to order one of those long handled pruner tools we talked about the last couple years.

I have one and it’s awesome. It’s japanese and is about 4 or 5 ft long. Works really well

 

[cavey]

When should I score the central leader. In winter,when tree is dormant, or growing season ?
Thanks

This is what I found when looking for a time as to when for you... you can do a quick search under scoring or notching the central leader for branch development.

• Initiate branching: score six to seven weeks before bloom or before bud swell.