North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <ginda@concentric.net>]

My plants came with pruning instructions, but that was a year or two
ago, and of course I can't find them now.  Any advice would be
appreciated:

I have a jonathan apple tree on M111 that I planted last spring.  It had
almost no roots, and didn't grow much (above the ground) last year. 
Fortunately, we had lots of rain, and it ended the year looking
healthy.  It is about 4.5' tall.  This winter, a deer (I assume) has
nibbled the terminal buds off of most of the branches.  This surprised
me, as I haven't had any deer damage on the crabs or other ornamentals. 
(It will get a little fence come spring.)  The main leader and one of
the higher branches retain their terminal buds.  How and when should I
prune it?  We still have snow on the ground, but the sap is rising in
the maples.  There is also some damage the the trunk, near the ground. 
It looks like it was swiped with a shovel, but it more likely was chewed
on my the neighbor's dog.  The cut goes about 1/3 around the trunk, and
looks dried up.  Should I do anything other than wrap some screen around
it to prevent further damage?

I also have a 2 year old canadice grape vine.  It is about 6' high, and
is just one stem, which grew from near the ground last year.  (When I
viciously removed all the other buds.)  I would like to keep it to one
trunk, and encourage the top to spread out.  There are buds all along
the stem - one for each or last year's leaves.  Should I remove these as
they swell, or should I leave some leaf growth lower?  Is there anything
else I ought to do?

Thanks,
Ginda Fisher
Eastern Mass, zone 6

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