North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[<dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com>]

Ginda,

You can prune your tree back to 8' by removing a scaffold or two near the 
top of the tree, depending on how many you have on the current tree.  An 8' 
tree should have no more than 4, maybe 5 sets of scaffolds.  The lowest set 
should be at least 3 to 4' off the ground.  If your tree is 10', cut the top 
2' off and the next 1 or 2 scaffolds below the new leader.  To start a new 
leader choose the most southwestern, upward pointing scaffold (branch).  If 
there is no upward pointing branch to use as a new leader, pick the next 
most upward pointing.  It will eventually start growing upward as time goes 
by.  But, the more you prune a tree, the more vegetative growth is produced 
and the energy of the tree then goes into producing more vegetative growth 
than fruit.  You will want to make thinning cuts rather than heading cuts. 
A thinning cut is always at the collar of a branch where it connects to the 
trunk or scaffold.  A heading cut is made at a bud and is used for shaping 
and training in the early years of the trees growth.  To produce more fruit, 
thin.  To produce more growth, head.  If you take too much growth out to 
lower the tree height, it may not produce fruit for a season.

If you go to 
http://gardening.about.com/od/treefruits/ig/How-to-Prune-an-Apple-Tree/A-Well-Pruned-Apple-Tree.htm 
you will see a drawing of a tree that has been cut back and a new leader 
started.  The top set of scaffolds should be cut off in this drawing so the 
bottom six branches will be left.  If you follow the link back to the 
beginning, you will see the process. If you send me a photo of the tree off 
list, I can draw the cuts on the photo for you to better assist you.  Hope 
this helps.

Dennis Norton
Royal Oak Farm Orchard
http://www.royaloakfarmorchard.com
http://www.theorchardkeeper.blogspot.com
http://www.revivalhymn.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2008 6:06 PM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] pruning apple trees


> > 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