Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

Pruning the Neglected Fruit Tree
By Jim Hruskoci, UNL Extension Educator

Many gardeners start out planting a fruit tree with good intentions but
unfortunately, it may eventually join the ranks of what is known as the
“neglected tree”. Perhaps you no longer have time to care for and prune
the tree or maybe you have simply lost interest. You soon find fruit yields
begin to drop. Well, there is still hope for that old tree, so don’t give
up on it completely.

Apple trees left unpruned for several years will often produce so many
branches that little energy is left over for fruit production.

Overgrown apple trees are also difficult to harvest and spray. Gardeners
who have such a tree are often at a loss as to how to get it "back in
shape."

Often the best recommendation for such a tree is to make one pruning cut at
ground level and start over with a new tree.

However, trees may have sentimental value that will make it worth the time
and effort to bring the tree back in shape. Realize that this will be a
multi-year process because we should never remove over 30% of the tree in
one year.

First, start by removing all the dead wood. This does not count as a part
of your "30%."

Second, remove all the suckers from the base of the tree.

Third, choose approximately 6 of the best branches, that originate off the
main truck to keep as your scaffold branches. Remove all others.

Branches should be cut flush to the branch collar. The collar is the
natural swelling that occurs where a branch connects to the trunk or to a
larger branch. Removing the collar would leave a larger wound that would
take additional time to heal. You do not want to do that. Also: Do not
paint wounds! Wounds heal more quickly if left open.

Candidates for removal would include those with narrow crotch angles (more
subject to breakage in wind and ice storms) and those that cross branches
that you will keep. This may be all that is possible the first year if you
reach your 30% after you have done this first round of pruning.

Finally, thin the branches on each scaffold branch. Remove crowded branches
to open up the tree to light and allow moisture to escape. Shorten each
scaffold branch by cutting back to a side branch. When you are through, the
tree should have enough wood removed that a softball can be thrown through
the tree.

Severe pruning will often cause an apple tree to produce vigorous side
shoots from the trunk called water sprouts. These should be removed through
the growing season so the center of the tree stays open. Instead of pruning
these vigorous shoots, put on a pair of leather work gloves and rip them
out of the branch or tree base. You don’t want these shoots coming back
which would occur if you pruned them, but if you rip them out you might
also remove the initial bud that is based in the cambium and the shoot will
not regrow.

http://acreage.unl.edu/Newsletter/NLS/March2006.htm