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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] pruning apple trees

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  • From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] pruning apple trees
  • Date: Sun, 09 Mar 2008 19:06:13 -0500


Ten feet is tall enough. Much taller and I won't be able to prune or spray
it. In fact, I'm thinking of cutting it down to about 8'.

Any advice re pruning a genetically "larger" tree to keep it in check?
Should I aim for horizontal growth? Cut it lower and just make it start new leaders
form time to time?

Right now it's mostly horizontal branches off a central leader.


I can't give you any advice, Ginda, because I don't know enough. But I'm wondering what would happen if you cut the leader back to a horizontal branch (eliminating the leader, in other words).

I have a young dwarf Asian pear (Starking Hardy Giant, which might or might not be the same as Olympic or Korean Giant) that seems to want to produce a leader straight up to the sky. It's branched well enough below, but the leader is really fast-growing. It's got a nice horizontal branch about the right height, so I've been wondering if cutting it there would stop it from getting much taller (though it might indeed produce some vertical sprouts).

I don't know, so I'm anxious to see the answers to your question. I do know that summer pruning is supposed to keep trees small, since it lessens their vigor. To my mind, it's not as easy as it sounds, though. Still, in your case, if you do cut the tree back, you might want to do summer pruning to keep it under control after this.

Oh, one more thing. Since it's just started fruiting, won't that help keep the vegetative vigor in check, at least a bit? I'd think that any energy going into producing fruit would not be available for vegetative growth. But that's just a guess. As I say, I'm just a newbie at this.

Good luck,

Bill
Lincoln, NE

--
We are not standing on the brink of recession due to forces beyond our control. The fallout from the housing crisis that's cost jobs and wiped out savings was not an inevitable part of the business cycle, it was a failure of leadership and imagination in Washington. - Sen. Barack Obama




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