apple tree ( photo / image / picture from waretrop's Garden ) Here is my apple tree. All the apples are off now. I was wondering if someone knew how to trim this little thing back. I really don't know anything about outside plants let alone fruit trees. I have read how to do it books but they are so confusing to me. so last year we chopped the heck out of it. we got a great amount of apples this year but the greed in me says I want more. I know they bloom on the second years growth and now I don't know which ones are last years growth or this years growth. I don't even know what time of year I should do this. Poor dumb Barb in Pa. BTW, I canned a zillion quarts of pie filling, and pints of apple sauce. It was great. I would love to have lots more to give away to my neighbors.
I don't have any pear tree's so I can't tell you when for them. Apples and peaches both need cleaned up in the fall only to the extent of picking up any dropped fruit and the leaves. Cut off any branches that are damaged, such as split or broken branches. APPLES: In the late winter or early spring, before any new growth appears, if possible, is the time to start pruning the trees. Begin this by cutting out any dead, damaged, or diseased limbs. continue on to cutting out any branches that cross and rub against each other. There are two different types of cutting, one is heading the other is thinning. Heading is cutting back the branch, not removing it entirely. thinning is cutting the branch back to the main stem or the stem/branch it is growing from. Always make the cuts as small as possible and at an angle, not horizontally. A horizontal cut holds water on the surface and promotes bacterial and fungal growth. As you are pruning step back and LOOK at the tree every now and then, shaping the tree and heading back the branches as you go. Open the center of the tree up for air circulation and light penetration, unless you are growing a tree with a central leader. Making your cuts with the bud facing outward, just below each cut. This promotes the new growth to growing the proper direction. Cut out any suckers/water sprouts as close to the branch as possible, but don't cut into the "collar" at the base of the sucker. Avoid doing so, just to keep the wound as small as possible. You will also find suckers growing from the base of the trunk, cut these out as well. You are not going to hurt the tree by cutting it back by 1/3 in the spring. I sometimes cut ours back even farther than this. Depends upon my mood or how big the next tree is. Pruning your tree to this point is probably the most work. Now you need to keep thinning the tree to promote air circulation for the whole tree. this will make it easier to thin the apples and spray the tree during the rest of the summer. Looking at a few pictures in the pruning books will give you an idea as to how they should look as you are doing the pruning. Miracle grow publishes a "complete guide to vegetables, fruits and herbs" . This is a very good book for most people. the information is very usable and covers quite a spectrum of plants, diseases, insects and a few weeds and such. It is also a very inexpensive investment that pays for itself in no time at all. I know this isn't what you are asking for, but I think it is important for growing decent fruit. When we thin we try to keep our apples about 4" apart on the branches. this makes the apple bigger and helps control diseases on the apples. You also need to have a spray schedule in place to have decent looking apples at the end of the season. We had so much rain this year our spray schedule was hit and miss and our apples looked like it. Your local extension office should have a fruit tree growing and spray guide that you can purchase very reasonably, also. This is really a very good investment as it pertains to your local growing conditions and tells you what sprays are available, when they should be sprayed and what each spray is for and if they can be combined to spray them. This covers sprays such as dormant oil spray and lime sulfur spray, for before any growth occurs , how to spray it and why. All the way to applying a spray to keep the apples from dropping before they are ripe and harvest is just around the corner. PEACHES: Basically the same concept, but prune them back harder ( by 2/3) than apples. they need very stout branches to hold the weight of the fruit.. They (the fruit) need to be spaced 6" apart. They have different diseases than the apples, that affect them, so you'll need specific disease control for them. We could never grow them here on my hill side, we had too much shade and not enough air circulation, no matter how much we sprayed. I have a neighbor who lives 1 mile to the west who has the perfect spot for peaches and they had a bumper crop this year, even with all the rain. Good luck. Maybe someone else will have more or different information than me, we all have different experiences when it comes to growing fruits and veg.
Apple peach 9and to a lesser degree) pear benefit from good air flow. My granfather would've said, "if a robin can't fly through it, the branches are too close together". Are thos props? Proping up branches?
Carolyn, Thank you so very much. I learned allot and have printed your advice so my hubby can read it. Coppice, Yes they are 2x4's. Two reasons we came up with this. The deer stood up on their back feet and ate as many apples as they could. I didn't mind them helping themselves but they should have only taken the ones on the ground. The other is that the branches were almost to the ground as the apples got larger. I didn't want the branch to break. This plus many other trees on our property were neglected for many years when we got here. We really cut it back very short compared to what it was. We didn't know if we would kill it, we just know we had to do it. I am guessing by your interest in the props that is wasn't the thing to do. My pear tree only had 7 pears on it but we really butchered it last year. Thanks for all your help, that's the reason I am here. Barb in Pa.
You are welcome, Barb. The props are something my FIL also does when the branches start to look as if they are getting too heavy. It really isn't a bad thing to do, it just means your branches probably could be pruned back quite a bit farther and thinned a bit more. Apples are vigorous growers so it seems as if you never get them pruned far enough back. All your blossoms are going to be on old wood, not new growth. IF you look closely at the buds you will see two different types growing . leaf and branch buds are fairy small and flat, flower buds are a cluster of buds that stick out and up away from the bark. Don't be too concerned about cutting off many of the blossoms, You will need to be thinning them as it is. My FIL's sister says you need 40 leaves per apple, I am not sure how she came up with this, but it's not a bad rule to apply or remember when you are thinning them. Coppice's advice about the robin flying through seems exaggerated, but when the leaved emerge you will be very surprised at how quickly the tree fills in. I still would suggest you get a small fruit guide for an at hand reference. this is very helpful to carry out with you as you start pruning for the first few times or even year if you are uncomfortable doing it without guidance from someone. There might even be and orchard close to you who would or does do demonstrations on fruit tree pruning and fruit production. Look around or ask if they would or do have a class to do this or know of anyone who does it. We have one here who does this. Your local extension office may offer them or have resources to guide you to them.
I feel so enlightened now. You make it more understandable. I have many books but just couldn't get it. I will go out and find an orchard. Just never thought of that. Thanks, Barb in Pa.
Props on fruit trees are a mixed blessing. Pear are usually upright enough that they don't need them. Peach are usually pruned to a vase shape, so the resulting (needed) notch in a tree is problematic. I would defiately recomend thining fruit over propping peach. Apple and deer (smiles) yeah. Well thinning may help some. Fence will help more. If I have a sermon, its this: spray for scale or over wintering bugs (especially for peach) is likely in order. But clean culture under your tree is at least as important as any spray schedule. Clean culture means: nothing but nothing under your tree (besides the props). No leaves, no drops, no volunteer saplings. An anual spread of bark mulch can be applied after you clear out the old junque. One dropped apple left to expire under your tree can harbor 50 apple maggot fly. 100 dropeed apples can create a cycle of damage to fruit as to make the trees fruit indeible even to deer...
WOW! I have learned more than ever. Thank you. So after giving my fruit trees an uneducated "chop chop" last fall I began to spray them for the first time. I never sprayed anything like that in my life, but I quit being nice and decided to wager war. I always check for fallen fruit but there are never any. Sneaky deer. I didn't know about leaves and things but it makes sense. I am that way about my greenhouse for bug reasons. I will spray the peach trees now. They are the junkiest ones now. They make peaches but they are drippy and unusable. Thought I'd address that next Spring but at least I will spray this now. Since I am just getting back on my feet after the death of our daughter and I have been paying attention to our yard and gardens. It's very good for me and you have all been very helpful, Thanks. I have gotten more apples that ever from those trees. Look forward to thinning them our when it's time. Barb in Pa.
Lots of great information here... I'll have to keep it in mind when it's time for me to start pruning our new little fruit trees.
