Pruning Apple Trees
Wintertime pruning continues at my farm.
Proper pruning is so important - it improves the health of the plants, prevents disease, and encourages better flowering. There are different pruning strategies for different times of the year, but overall the goals are the same - to control the height and shape, develop good limb structure, encourage growth, remove damaged or diseased branches, and to allow for better air circulation. Not long ago, my outdoor grounds crew pruned many of my apple trees - those that are original to the farm and the dwarf espaliered apple trees I planted when I moved here.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- Every year my apple trees produce a multitude of delicious fruits. This is my dwarf apple espalier behind my carport.
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- Espalier refers to an ancient technique, resulting in trees that grow flat, either against a wall, or along a wire-strung framework. They’re supported on wire attached to strong antique granite posts from China originally used as grape supports. There are four rows of espaliered apples here. I also have espaliered Gravenstein apples across the carriage road and espaliered apples in my living maze.
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- Some of the trees I maintain are original to the farm. They also continue to produce so many wonderful fruits.
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- I have all different varieties that are great to eat right off the tree, pressed into cider, or baked into pies and tarts.
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- The apple tree is a deciduous tree in the rose family best known for its sweet, pomaceous fruit. These trees do so well because I take excellent care of them. All my apple trees are fed and pruned regularly during the year.
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- Here’s Phurba atop one of the “ancient” apple trees across from my Winter House behind the herbaceous peony bed. The vigorous, upward-growing branches on these trees are all last year’s new growth, which need to be removed.
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- These are water sprouts. These won’t produce fruit, so many of them are pruned so the light can still reach through the center of the trees.
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- Here’s Chhiring working in another section pruning the Ds – the dead, diseased, damaged, and deranged or crisscrossing branches, as well as any water sprouts and suckers.
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- The crew is able to reach many branches with hand pruners. Pruning shears, hand pruners, or secateurs are a type of scissors used on plants. They are strong enough to prune hard branches of trees and shrubs, sometimes up to an inch thick.
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- For thicker branches, the crew also uses a pruning hand saw. A pruning saw makes it easier to cut branches and not harm them.
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- Here’s a clean cut. These can only be made with sharp tools. I encourage everyone to keep their tools in tiptop condition.
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- In general, when pruning always encourage branches to grow toward the outside of the tree and eliminate those that grow toward the center or cross other branches. Air and light need to penetrate the foliage to the center of the tree as much as possible.
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- In the springtime, apple trees flower and produce fruit on long-lived, stubby twigs called spurs, often referred to as old wood. Pruning encourages the tree to grow more of these fruiting spurs. All our fruit trees are pruned once a year.
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- After all the branches are cut, they are gathered, neatly piled, and then processed through a wood chipper to make mulch.
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- The same pruning methods are used at the espaliered apples.
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- Here’s Chhiring cutting off the water sprouts. He also focuses on the overall height of the espaliered trees, so the end result is even along the entire row.
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- When Phurba prunes he cuts branches at a 45 to 60 degree angle. Using hand tools takes a little longer, but gives my trees a more natural appearance and shape.
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- Here is another good cut. It is close to the branch collar at the base of the limb.
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- Look at all the cut branches from just one row of dwarf apple trees.
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- By the end of this project, every row is cut just right.
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- Controlling woody plant growth for the production of fruit has been a practice since the 18th and 19th centuries. The espaliered fruits were easier to access and adorned many stately homes. Right now at my farm, there’s still snow on the ground, but it won’t be long before these trees are filled with gorgeous flavorful fruits.
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