pruning apple trees

[rodsauder]

The property I purchased last fall has a an old orchard. The trees are really overgrown, i am looking for any and all advice here on pruning. I assume now is the correct time of year? How much should I take off at one cropping ? approx 30% more ? Less? looking for tips, comments, etc. Thanks

 

[vabiker23518]

I'm no expert and only have 7 trees. However, if you do a google search there are some great references out there. Some state extension schools have great websites on how to trim fruit trees. Good luck!

 

[Industrial Toys]

This is always the source of my most premium fire wood.

I was once told, how severly orchards apparently prune their trees.

 

[forgeblast]

Remove anything dead then work on getting it back to a scaffold shape. You may want to put some lime down for calcium after you do a heavy prune. Watch there will be water spouts everywhere.
restoring old apple trees - Google Search
has a lot of articles and you tube videos.
I have been working on my apple trees for years it takes patience.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

several youtube videos of tree pruning.

 

[Tollster]

Good rule of thumb is no more than 30% of the tree, start with the suckers (long straight bows, that shoot straight up).
Remember that apples will grow on wood produced the previous year, so always leave a good proportion (say 50%) of the previous year's growth(evident with a knuckle spur and a small branch containing a few leaves, typically about 2" in length). Its also a good time to prune back the branches near last years buds in an effort to have the limb go in the direction that will open the inner canopy for as much sunlight as you can get. I prune the buds in an effort to keep the limbs horizontal with as little vertical growth as possible, but beware, low limbs will sag with a heavy fruit concentration, limiting mower access in the late summer and early fall. The benefit is you don't have to reach far from your seat to grab an apple as you mow!

 

[Western]

I was researching the same thing, sorta. More for 3 year old trees, but I read several articles online about "re-starting" old apple tees, Just go on Google and search. I would provide a link, but cant remember where it was (I think Ohio state) I did read that rehabbing older trees is a bit different than trees that have been maintained.

 

[flusher]

The property I purchased last fall has a an old orchard. The trees are really overgrown, i am looking for any and all advice here on pruning. I assume now is the correct time of year? How much should I take off at one cropping ? approx 30% more ? Less? looking for tips, comments, etc. Thanks

I prune my almond trees (about 24 of them) in January just before they break dormancy. I just remove the low hanging branches so I can mow the orchard in the Spring. Like your apple trees, my almonds are probably 80 years old and way overgrown. I don't bother pruning the high branches. These trees still produce a lot of sweet almonds. The blackbirds do the harvesting for me.

There are thousands of acres of orchards around here (almonds, plums for prunes, English walnut, olives, mandarin oranges, pistachio). The almonds and plums are pruned by just giving the trees the flat top treatment to remove the previous year's growth and keep the trees short enough to handle with the harvesting equipment. Any low hanging branches are pruned by hand. These orchards are kept scrupulously clean, no rotting fruit on the ground, and mowed with flail mowers to prevent disease problems.

Good luck.

 

[DFB]

We've been in full swing pruning the apple trees at the orchard for many weeks now obviously we have a lot of them to get done. But anytime late winter early spring while the tree is still dormant is the correct time. If you have a really overgrown old tree with lot of bad wood might have cut it back hard close to the main trunk to get started again. With no leaves on them the older trees can and do look pretty odd. Main trunk with 2 or 3 large leaders then smaller leaders spreading out and up then your spur limbs coming off of them. We fertilize every fall with a ring of low nitrogen fertilizer usually just a 5 10 10 blend spread out around the dripline of the tree. Calcium application are good too do too. To get really large apples we thin the trees leaving only a few otherwise a lot of heavy fruit set will generally produce small apples. It's done by spraying chemicals that cause fruit drop in most conventional commercial operations nowadays but for years it was also done by hand labor and sometimes still is

There are many university links and online videos. Here's one from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.

The University of Maine - Cooperative Extension Publications - Bulletin #2409, Renovating Old Apple Trees


MOFGA is running a hands on workshops during March on pruning and renovating apple trees for anyone in their vicinity.

 

[rodsauder]

Thanks for all of that. I will post a picture of a few trees, before and after. I think I will basically remove any dead limbs, then a few of the shooters that go straight up and finish by making sure I can mow around the bottom. I am going to try going fairly severe on a few trees and easy on a few others. It should be interesting to see the results. Thanks everyone for the input.

 

[forgeblast]

Just remember it will want to shoot or waterspout heavily the first year after you trim....try to keep those in check

 

[rodsauder]

Thanks for that. When do I trim them? Do I wait for next winter?

 

[forgeblast]

Summer pruning tends to suppress growth of both suckers and foliage.from A Guide to Successful Pruning, Pruning Deciduous Trees - Home - Virginia Cooperative Extension

 

[California]

... and finish by making sure I can mow around the bottom.

If you take off any broken, ground-dragging limbs first - then its easier for higher pruning debris to fall to the ground and it might help get your ladder nearer the center of the tree.

It's probably in those referenced videos (I haven't looked at them yet) but sometimes restoring old trees you need to cut a path into the jungle of branches to create ladder access into all of the tree. Keep in mind you can't harvest fruit later in the year that is inaccessible.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Good advice, also check with your Ag Extension Service for the county you live in. They will usually come out and get you started or send a Master Gardner that is experienced in trimming apple trees, and its free!

 

[turnkey4099]

This is always the source of my most premium fire wood.

I was once told, how severly orchards apparently prune their trees.

Yep. If it doesn't look like you killed it, take more off Just kidding but that is close.

As for old overgrown trees, I have heard about 30% per year until it is back in shape.

Harry K

 

[Lloyd_E]

Great timing on this thread... just about to start. What would you do with this thing? It has some major rot in the limbs - great housing for birds. It still produces too. I have several around the property not as big and lots of smaller ones.

This is my year of trying to get a handle on the trees... finally getting to it on the list.

 

[California]

What would you do with this thing? It has some major rot in the limbs - great housing for birds.

Looks like the upper third of that tree is beyond the reach of a harvest ladder. I would cut out everything obviously dead, then some out of the top along with many of the vertical suckers, to just reach that limit of 30% maximum per year. Repeat next year until every part of the tree can be reached for harvest. After that you can prune specifically for apple production. You should already be getting a couple hundred pounds or more, no?

More sunlight reaching the lower branches will grow more fruit down where you can reach it.

We have started applying turkey manure broadcast down the orchard rows. This has improved both tonnage and apple size. Its an old orchard with some hundred year old Gravensteins remaining, and old Golden Delicious trees of similar size, with semi-dwarfs (2/3 size) trees used for replacements over the past 40 years. Now we went back to planting full size Gravensteins. Its a premium heirloom variety, and we expect the more extensive roots of full size trees will better tolerate the warming of the climate. (Climate change here isn't just theory - presently is the most severe drought on record.) These would grow as large as your tree but we keep them trimmed down to ladder-accessable height. See my sig photo below this post - there's one old full size Gravenstein down the row behind the little red tractor while the other trees are semi-dwarf.

Added:
Same photo as my sig photo except winter. (And zoomed to show the trees). I just now went out and took this.

The point here is that pruning on the modern trees is to expand growth outward instead of upward.

That large old Gravenstein is a little taller than ideal for harvest. But it blocks view of my neighbor's house across the canyon so I haven't topped it for a while. Looking at its big trunk, I think the trunk is original (1910?) while the superstructure is half that age and grew out to replace fallen limbs. There are a couple more ancient trees down that row which are maintained to more reasonable size.

 

[Lloyd_E]

Cali,

I can reach top third barely, with a man-lift on my tractor. I measured the trunk for a local country mag the other week - there is a bit of a challenge regarding apple tree size and age in recent issues. It measured 7'9" circumference just at the of the snowbank in the pic. When the snow goes I will remeasure should be close to 8'. The main horizontal and vertical limbs have rot but the branches are live beyond that -towards the tips of the limbs. They blossom and produce a good amount every second year.

I may rework the photo to show cut strategy and repost for your consult if you don't mind.

Thanks.

Lovely orchard and spot you have there. Nothing like a well planned visual orchard.

 

[rodsauder]

I am learning lots , so Thanks to everyone for replying. Here is a few pics of what I am working with.