Its more efficient to train trees early by placing limbs in a position.

Pruning Apple Trees 3 When to Prune If you have a small orchard, delay pruning until it’s nearly spring. Allow for rain and bad weather, but plan to be finished pruning by May 1 or in time to begin spraying. In many larger orchards, the pruning begins soon after harvest and continues through to spring. Old trees are pruned first and young trees are left until March and.

Apple trees are trained to a modified leader system. The tree should be trained with one central leader or main trunk in the center, with several wide-angled limbs spaced around the leader. The tree should mature to a pyramidal shape. The picture below shows correct and incorrect pruning of an apple tree. Use “spur-type” strains or grow apples on dwarfing rootstock to make training and pruning easier. Spur-type and dwarf trees produce fruit at an earlier age than full-sized trees.

May 30, John Strong demonstrates how to prune apple trees at planting, and after the first and second growing seasons. It also covers pruning a young tree into beari. Big branches make big trees! 2. Use the rule, also called diameter based pruning.

This is removing any scaffold branch or limb that is half the size or larger in diameter as compared to the central leader. A five-year-old apple tree without any training or pruning; it is crowded with multiple trunks that have narrow crotch angles and could break easily when bearing a heavy crop. Central Leader System If growers or home gardeners do not want to use high-density planting, the central leader system still is a good training system for apples and pears.

If I prune it every year for two or three years, I can bring that tree back to a fruiting state, and make it a more attractive part of the landscape. An apple tree can remain healthy and productive for 50 years or more, but it needs proper care, especially correct pruning. Neglected, an apple tree loses vigor and stops producing fruit. Central Leader get lopped tree Semi-dwarf and standard size rootstocks can be trained as freestanding central leader trees.

A vigorous shoot near the center is chosen at planting time, and competing upright shoots around it are removed.

Limbs are spread so as not to compete with the central leader.

Pruning Apple Trees: Basic Concepts WSU.