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  • From: Jim Fruth <jfruth@uslink.net>
  • To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Apple Pruning Questions
  • Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2005 07:45:27 -0500

When I visited the E & J Gallo Apple Orchards near Livingston,
California, I marveled over their tractor-pulled pruning machine. It pruned
both sides of aisles in a single pass and consisted of vertical sickle bars
to prune the sides AND horizontal sickle bars to prune the tops of trees.
The sickle bars looked identical to those use to cut hay. I was told that
trees were topped to keep picking costs down and, of course, to increase
apple size.
A few weeks ago, a NAFEXer talked about two-stage pruning of root shoots
so the shoots wouldn't resprout. First question: Could the same theory be
applied to topping apple trees? I'm wondering because some of my apple
trees are nearly twenty feet tall and I can barely reach fruit with my
picker while standing on my ladder. I'm bagging apples and I'd like to lop
off everything I can't reach so the bagged fruits get larger. I have topped
apple trees before and each stem sprouts a myriad of water spouts making
topping all the more difficult the following year (So you can imagine what
Gallo's trees look like before they mow).
More questions: Is it possible to top apple trees without the upright
branches producing so many water-spouts? Is it advisable/inadvisable to top
trees at this time of year? Does anyone have experience with this that
they'd share?
--

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN
www.bberryfarm.com







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