prunning
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Stumper
One Man Band
The ideal time is when the tree is dormant-after the leaves have fallen and before buds open in the spring. The dormant season is best because:A> the tree has stored as much "food" as it can and removal of branches at this time will not interfere with that process. When spring comes the tree is prepared to iniate new growth where needed. B> The diseases are quiescient. Creating wounds at this time will provide the minimum possiblity of infection by bacterial or fungal diseases (there is currently debate on how significant the chances of infection are in pruning wounds re: the major Apple diseases). Having said all that .--Proper pruning can be done at any time of year with minimal health risk to the tree.
Jay Banks
ArboristSite Operative
Here's a thought though; If the storing of "foods" has taken place and the tree is dormant, why would it not be overly harmful to a tree to remove the stored food?
Food storage is in the stems to await the spring growth period. So removing branches removes the readily stored food.
Food storage is in the stems to await the spring growth period. So removing branches removes the readily stored food.
Kneejerk Bombas
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I like to trim apples dormant because you can see what you are doing.
Apple trimming is different from tree pruning, with apples you are almost pollarding and remove much more foliage than a nonfruit tree, only to have it grow back and be removed next year. The goal is fruit production, fewer but larger fruit.
Apple trimming is different from tree pruning, with apples you are almost pollarding and remove much more foliage than a nonfruit tree, only to have it grow back and be removed next year. The goal is fruit production, fewer but larger fruit.
John Paul Sanborn
Above average climber
Unless it is the only apple tree on the property serving a dual purpose of specimine and food source.
Jay, here is my thought on yours. Local starch storage is for local growth in the first flush of the season. If pruning is done to not exceed the educated guess of nominal dynamic mass then you are not causing undue stress to the plant.
Pruning is wounding, wounding is stressful. Trees evolved to tolerate a certain amount of stress
Jay, here is my thought on yours. Local starch storage is for local growth in the first flush of the season. If pruning is done to not exceed the educated guess of nominal dynamic mass then you are not causing undue stress to the plant.
Pruning is wounding, wounding is stressful. Trees evolved to tolerate a certain amount of stress
Shespen
ArboristSite Member
Depends on your reason for pruning. Do you want to stimulate growth or suppress it? Are you prunning for apple production or formation of a shade tree. Are you prunning to increase airflow to suppress fungus or simply to be able to access fruit with an orchard ladder? Ideally (not realistically unless it's yours) you should prune an apple tree three times a year. Once in the winter during dormant season, once after the flowers have faded and once after the heat of summer but before the leaves have dropped.
Right now is the ideal time to prune if you want to suppress growth. Remove any large limbs that need be removed for access or that were broken from apple weight or for height reduction or major thinning or what ever the case may be. do not try to restruture a tree all at once if it has been neglected for a long period of time. It will take a long time to bring it back. Observe the 15% rule of prunning. Generally I remove 2 or 3 "scaffold" branches this time of year on a neglected tree where I have two scaffolds trying to occupy the same space. prunning this time of year removes the stored energy along with the branch.
In the winter during the dormant period any cuts that you make will stimulate growth. Remove suckers from the top if the tree has that umbrella shape that is so popular and any that are directed towards the inside. Thin individual scafolds at this time also if necessary. If an umbrellaed tree has been "let go" then those suckers on the top have become epicormics and should be removed over time. take out a third, cut a third in half and leave a third for next year. Remove them all and you will end up with a sunburnt tree that will stress itself to death tring to recover from root starvation.
After the flowers die is the ideal time to thin and remove fruit buds. Fruit buds that are between 3 to seven years produce the best fruit. It takes 2 years for a new bud to produce an apple. Buds older than 5 to 7 years produce a flavorless apple and rob the newer buds of nutrients so remove them. If there is was a flower then there will be an apple. try to thin the buds (apples) so there is only 2 or three to a cluster. This will produce bigger apples with more flavor.
Never prune any tree when the leaves are budding out, when flowering, or during leaf drop. This causes undue stress at a time when hormonal changes are at their peak.
As you have probably figured out by now, apple trees are a time consuming monotonus and expensive maintenence tree. To do it right will cost a customer about 300 a year if he doesn't spray. $300 will buy a lot of apples. The competition will whack it once in the winter for $30 or fifty, take the money and run. The customer will tell you how his grandpa did it. Most companys that I know of farm out fruit trees to their employees as side jobs just to avoid the headache. I avoid them like the plague except for my own.
Steve
Right now is the ideal time to prune if you want to suppress growth. Remove any large limbs that need be removed for access or that were broken from apple weight or for height reduction or major thinning or what ever the case may be. do not try to restruture a tree all at once if it has been neglected for a long period of time. It will take a long time to bring it back. Observe the 15% rule of prunning. Generally I remove 2 or 3 "scaffold" branches this time of year on a neglected tree where I have two scaffolds trying to occupy the same space. prunning this time of year removes the stored energy along with the branch.
In the winter during the dormant period any cuts that you make will stimulate growth. Remove suckers from the top if the tree has that umbrella shape that is so popular and any that are directed towards the inside. Thin individual scafolds at this time also if necessary. If an umbrellaed tree has been "let go" then those suckers on the top have become epicormics and should be removed over time. take out a third, cut a third in half and leave a third for next year. Remove them all and you will end up with a sunburnt tree that will stress itself to death tring to recover from root starvation.
After the flowers die is the ideal time to thin and remove fruit buds. Fruit buds that are between 3 to seven years produce the best fruit. It takes 2 years for a new bud to produce an apple. Buds older than 5 to 7 years produce a flavorless apple and rob the newer buds of nutrients so remove them. If there is was a flower then there will be an apple. try to thin the buds (apples) so there is only 2 or three to a cluster. This will produce bigger apples with more flavor.
Never prune any tree when the leaves are budding out, when flowering, or during leaf drop. This causes undue stress at a time when hormonal changes are at their peak.
As you have probably figured out by now, apple trees are a time consuming monotonus and expensive maintenence tree. To do it right will cost a customer about 300 a year if he doesn't spray. $300 will buy a lot of apples. The competition will whack it once in the winter for $30 or fifty, take the money and run. The customer will tell you how his grandpa did it. Most companys that I know of farm out fruit trees to their employees as side jobs just to avoid the headache. I avoid them like the plague except for my own.
Steve
Jay Banks
ArboristSite Operative
JPS, I understand your point, and that is why "correct" pruning is so successful. But, still "wild" trees self prune after they extract any stored materials, thus keeping their resources balanced. And the trees "suffer" less stress. Urban trees need all the help they can get, so that is one of the reasons I prune very little.
Steve, Here in apple country east, they only prune production orchards once a year, early spring.
Steve, Here in apple country east, they only prune production orchards once a year, early spring.
John Paul Sanborn
Above average climber
I have a minimslist mentality in my pruning. Try to avoid making large wounds on trunks and leads. look for that one cut that will serve open the crown, thin tips to allow light to inner canopy...yadda yadda yadda.
I've said all that before a few times, no?
I've said all that before a few times, no?
