Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - Re: [NAFEX] pruning/training apples

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Thomas Olenio <tolenio@sentex.net>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] pruning/training apples
  • Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 08:44:01 -0500

Hi Ginda,

Just finished my pruning workshop at the University of Guelph with Henry Kock
(Arboretum.
Interpretive horticulturist). Here is what he said about apples.

First, you have to look at the tree and find the shape you are are looking
for. You do not want
any branches that have too small an angle, or weak and most importantly you
are pruning for
future strength, and shape.

You really want the apple tree to be stiff and hoary, this will ensure it has
the strength to
support a full crop of apples. Branches that are soft or whispy will not
support apples,
especially in the wind. Your aim is stiff load bearing lateral branches.

I always wondered as a kid mowing the orchard on the lawn tractor, why an
apple tree would rather
remove you from the seat of the lawnmower, than allow a branch to be pushed
out of the way by
hand. Any other tree would easily give way with a push of a hand, but never
an apple. The
reason for this is that they were pruned to be TOUGH and strong.

Take out the central leader at the height you want to work at, just above
where there are a
number of lateral branches. It is important to make the young tree bowl
shaped and ultimately
outward arching.

Every year remove everthing that points straight upward, and prune back last
years terminal
growth by 1/3 to an outward facing bud. The bud should be facing in the
direction you want the
branch to continue to grow.

Lateral branches off of the scaffold branch should be pruned back by half to
a 2 bud pin. The
back bud will usually form a fruiting spur and the outward bud a long shoot.
The next year the
long shoot will be pruned back to a two pin bud and this process continues
year after year,
building a tough tree and fruiting spurs.

So going by what I was taught, your floppy leader is telling you it does not
want to be a leader,
and it is unlikely you can change it's mind. Is there a good set of laterals
below the floppy
leader you can prune back to?

Also, I was told that the tree should be able to move in the wind. Stake the
tree, but allow the
tree to move. The movement stimulates the cells in the trunk to stiffen and
become stronger,
giving you a stronger tree.

Later,
Tom



list@ginda.us wrote:

> I have a three year old jonathan on M111. When I ordered it, the
> vendor (maybe Hilltop?) apologized for not having any big ones left.
> When it arrived, I marveled at the paucity of roots - one or two
> threads trailing out of a stick below the graft. It also had some
> damage to the top from shipping, but I might have headed the tree
> anyway.
>
> It sprouted well enough, and seems healthy. I had a bit of deer
> pruning the first winter, and some caterpillar damage the second
> summer. It is now about 3/4" thick and perhaps 5' tall, of which about
> a foot is last year's growth. I have some promisingly arranged twigs
> that I hope will become a low scaffold. I hope to get a second set of
> scaffold branches going a little higher this year.
>
> My problem is that the leader is flopping to the side, and I'd like to
> to grow more straight. The tree is staked, but the cloth ties I've
> used tend to slide down, leaving the top to wave in the wind. any
> suggestions? Should I tape the tree to the pole? Remove a foot or
> more from the top and hope it grows back thicker? Apply more nitrogen?
> Plant a new tree to distract me from this one? (Actually, I do have
> an Ashmead's kernal on order from Fedco for the spring.)
>
> Thanks,
> Ginda Fisher
> eastern MA, zone 6
>
> _______________________________________________
> nafex mailing list
> nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
> Most questions can be answered here:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex
> File attachments are accepted by this list; please do not send binary
> files, plain text ONLY!
> Message archives are here:
> https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/nafex
> To view your user options go to:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/options/nafex/XXXX@XXXX (where XXXX@XXXX is
> YOUR email address)
> NAFEX web site: http://www.nafex.org/

--

===
Canada plant hardiness zone 5b
Southwest Ontario
===





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page