Pruning Apple Trees
It’s time to prune the apple trees!
If you grow these wonderful fruit trees, the best time to prune them is now - in winter - or in very early spring before any new growth begins. Pruning not only helps to develop proper shape and form, but also encourages new growth, promotes high fruit yield, and maintains good tree health. At my Bedford, New York farm, I have many, many apple trees that are pruned every year. My outdoor grounds recently tackled some near my tennis court.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Every year, my apple trees produce bounties of delicious fruits. I have many apple trees here at my Bedford, New York farm.
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- These were some of the gorgeous apples from last fall. The apple tree is a deciduous tree in the rose family best known for its sweet, pomaceous fruit, the apple. I have many different varieties. Some of them I use for eating. Others are better suited for baking and for making applesauce and cider.
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- This dwarf apple orchard is just behind my long carport and flower room. Father Legendre of Hannonsville, France is credited with pioneering the espalier growing method in 1684. Because sunlight reaches every piece of fruit that these trees bear, espalier pruning continues to be a standard procedure at commercial orchards in France. Traditionally, apple trees were always encouraged to stay shorter, so apples were easier to reach.
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- A good number of my apple trees are at least 60-years old, so they were already here when I purchased the property.
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- Apples come in all shades of red, green, and yellow. My fruit trees are extremely healthy, in part because of all the care and maintenance that is done to keep them doing well. They need regular pruning once a year.
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- This tree is near my tennis court. It is one of several in this area ready for pruning. The tree takes up a dormant state after shedding its leaves and before sprouting new buds.
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- Phurba Sherpa is a longtime member of my outdoor grounds crew. He is an excellent pruner. Pruning is best completed before growth starts as cuts will heal quickly. There are two main goals of pruning trees. On young trees, pruning encourages a strong, solid framework. And on mature trees like this, they usually already have their shape determined, so it’s important to maintain their shape and size.
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- I prefer much of the work be done by hand. Smaller twigs are snipped off with regular secateurs. Each member of my outdoor grounds crew has a pair.
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- The crew also likes to use our STIHL bypass loppers for slightly larger branches up to two-inches in diameter.
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- Cutting by hand gives my trees a more natural appearance and shape.
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- And, because my crew is very diligent about keeping all our tools sharp and well-conditioned, the cuts are clean. Pruning cuts should be made fairly flush to the branch from which it grew. The idea is to leave slight stubs. By removing any more, the remaining branch has too much of an opening for disease to enter.
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- A bow saw, or pruning saw, cuts on both the fore stroke and back stroke and is designed for cutting thicker branches that cannot be removed with secateurs or loppers.
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- Pasang Sherpa, our resident tree expert, cuts branches that are rubbing or crisscrossing each other, preventing any healthy new growth. Basically, we want to create a tree with well spaced lateral branches. Any branches which interfere with the tree’s shape or create a dense framework should be removed.
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- Water sprouts are the thin branches which normally grow straight up from lateral branches and do not bear fruit. These grow very fast every year.
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- Phurba removes all the water sprouts.
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- Pruning stimulates the tree to grow more fruiting spurs by eliminating competing suckers and unproductive wood.
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- As he prunes, Phurba stops occasionally to see how the tree looks – the sections he has pruned and what he still has to do.
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- After the branches are cut, they are gathered, piled, and then either saved for kindling or processed through a wood chipper and returned to woods.
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- And here are some of the apple tree buds. Tree fruit have two types of buds, terminal and lateral buds. Apples flower and fruit on terminal buds. A terminal, or apical bud, is located at the tip of a shoot. A lateral bud develops along the developing shoot at the base of the leaf blade.
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- By late afternoon, these two apple trees look great after pruning.
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- And so does this one nearby – a big favorite here at the farm. This tree produces delicious green apples. I am looking forward to many lustrous trees heavy with fruits come autumn.
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