North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[tanis grif <tanisgrif@yahoo.com>]

I'd try training these over-sized side branches to the horizontal.  Or nearly 
so. 
The only worry I'd have then is, will this cause these branches to form 
blossom buds
on too small a tree?


--- Jason MacArthur <> wrote:

> I have a few dwarf apple trees going into 3rd leaf with lower tier 
> branches which are almost equal to the size of the trunk.  In fact, the 
> trunk narrows significantly above these branches- clearly they are 
> draining significant resources from the central leader.  Reading 
> through the pruning literature there seems to be a great deal of 
> conflicting advice on how to deal with a situation like this, from 
> "never prune  a branch until it's fruited" to "don't bother growing a 
> whole side of the tree you will only need to cut out later".
>       
>       The longer I wait the larger these branches get, so I am wondering 
> what to do.  Is there any way to significantly slow them down enough to 
> allow the trunk to regain dominance?  Or should I hack the tree back to 
> a whip and start all over?
>       
>       Thanks and happy growing,
> 
> Jason MacArthur
> Marlboro, Vt.
> 


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