Pruning old apple trees?

[wv8n]

There are a couple of old apple trees on our place that are really neglected. There tops look like a birds nest. They do produce apples the are just little guys though and not a lot of them. Im wanting to prune them up and get them back into shape, just wondering if yall had any info to share on how to do it. Maybe some good reading on the subject with some pics(I like pics). Im not sure what type apples they are but they stay pretty hard and are kinda sour. Also is there a good fert. to use on them, and im assuming You put the fert. along the drip line like other trees correct?

Any and all help appreciated.

 

[dex3361]

Prune in your area(my area as well) from the second week in Feb to the second week in March. When pruning apple trees cut everything between 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock. Cut any crossing branches that rub. You can cut up to 1/3 of the wood from the tree without hurting the tree and starting a massive sucker growth. The pruning will encourage larger apple growth if it ever made larger apples.

 

[wv8n]

Thank you dex. So id better hurry if i want it done this year then. So basically cut the branches that reach up rather than out then? There are alot of branches that cross and rub each other some even grow straight back toward the trunk. I might not cut them all this year but im gonna cut some for sure. Should i seal up the cuts or just let them be?

 

[MossRoad]

You want them reaching out, not up.

Think of the shape of an upside down triangle. Or a martini glass. You want open air inside the tree.

I would suggest a quick trip to google and do a search on how to prune fruit trees, particularly apple trees.

 

[ayelvington]

Checkout YouTube - stephenhayesuk's Channel on YouTube. He has a series on pruning trees that should help you out.

BTW: The fruit you're describing sounds like they may have been planted for cider and not munching. Cider (that's HARD CIDER) gets better from the kind of fruit you're describing. I recommend you see if you can find someone to identify which variety of tree you have. It could be valuable!

 

[dex3361]

I never put anything on the pruned limb. I also do not cut the limb any closer than about 1/4 inch to the trunk this leaves a cambium layer of the cut limb to make a nice closure. You can safely remove 1/3 of the tree limbs each year and sometimes it will seem like you are cutting the whole tree. So I decide what major cuts to make and mark them before I start so I do not get carried away. The Google suggestion is a good one and there are great pics of the cut pattern. Growing out not up and not is good to remember. It takes a few years to bring a tree back and it may never produce like it should. :thumbsup:

 

[wv8n]

Thanks yall ill check out youtube and google. Hopefully i can get them back into shape.

By the way dex where in wv are ya im up in jackson county.

 

[dex3361]

Northern Kanawha close to Roane County. Were neighbors.:thumbsup:

 

[Egon]

I've been pruning some wild apple trees out at the play farm for a few years now. The apples did get bigger and the bear destroyed the best tasting apple tree. Left me with a seven foot high stalk. Fortunately it's still growing.

Once you start pruning it's an ongoing chore.

 

[goat lady joyce]

You are getting lots of good advice on your pruning on this thread. I remember when I pruned my first apple trees. I was so nervous that I was going to ruin the trees, but I've learned that even if you under-prune a bit until you are more comfortable with doing this, it helps the tree immensely.

I found it helpful to stand looking at the tree and try to identify the most solid looking, spread out framework parts of the tree.

Good luck with your work. SO many valuable trees go under-utilized all over the place. This is essentially free food. I had a neighbor who let me pick apples off of a road side tree. As a return favor I offered to prune the following late winter. I think I got somehting ridiculous like 45 gallons of cider from that tree!!!

I'm not an expert by any means, but I think that regular pruning will help a tree to produce more evenly from year to year, rather than ultra heavy one year and nothing the next, etc.

Good luck with your efforts. You won't be disappointed.

 

[/pine]

On a side note...
If you like smoked meats or fish...apple wood gives a mild but flavorful taste to leaner cuts of meat and fish...

 

[Lloyd_E]

dex has it bang on...

I will be starting this week along with a 100 others things that need to be started/accomplished. All of a sudden spring has arrived and things need to get done - now!

We had our first major snow storm late January... a few more storms and bang we are into spring or as the locals call it - season of mud. I am afraid to move my tractor out of the back yard. Note to self: park tractor in driveway when temps go above +5c!

Lloyd

 

[keegs]

+1 what the goat lady said.

I have a Winesap and an a Macoun. I trimmed both again late last fall. The first go-round (a few years ago) I used an illustration I printed from a website of the kind of branches to target, got up on a ladder and went to town. The following year the Winesap produced allot more apples than in prior years and they were somewhat larger as well. The Macoun is only in the ground about 5 years or so. It's got some time.

Both my trees have had tent caterpillar nests. I hit it with the garden hose and remove the remaining caterpillars by hand. The trees seem more susceptible to disease. I hear a mild soap solution applied with a hose fertilizer sprayer will treat some diseases as well as insect infestation.

 

[wv8n]

Well I trimmed on them yesterday we will see how it turns out this year. On a side not as i was hauling the trimmings to my burn location I ran in to a old timer neighbor who said he used to pick off those trees when he was younger. He said they were black twig apples. said the where good keepers and good for cooking. Said they dont just turn to mush like store bought apples lol. Hope they do good, Told him if the start producing ill drop him off a bucket or 3 full of them. Thanks for all the help yall.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Prune any dead or diseased wood out of the tree right now. Don't worry about percentages, get it out of there. Fire blight looks like blackened bark, and can be spread to healthy wood by your pruning tools, so if you have fire blight, haul along a 5 gallon bucket of strong bleach solution to disinfect your tools.

Besides pruning, apples really benefit from a dormant spray made of lime-sulfur and a little oil. Hit the tree with a strong spray before the buds swell or you prune, then follow with a couple more dilute sprays ending at blossom.

Worms in apples burrow from the core out. They drop to the ground under the tree and pupate until the next blossom, when they hatch to moths or flies and fly up into the tree to lay eggs in the blossom. Most fruit parasites are not good at flying, so you can really reduce your problems with good orchard sanitation.

You will see professional orchards that are bare dirt under the trees. This disrupts the fruit fly reproduction cycle, and also removes competition from grasses for moisture and nutrients. Roundup under the tree before the buds swell, and rototill under the tree before blossom. You don't need to till deep, just deep enough to get the grass roots.

 

[teg]

Did it last time at the farm... There was a local meadery that had a guy that "ID'ed" the variety based on the fruit.