North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[<dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com>]

Once there is a terminal bud set on the leader, the leader, itself, will 
stop growing. If the leader is headed (pruned to the nearest bud) every 
year, it will continue to grow and the tree will continue to get taller.

All of the this discussion hinges on the fact that the graft union is above 
the soil line.  If the graft union is at the soil line or below, you can 
lose all control of the dwarfing capabilities of the rootstock and the tree 
will just take off and be very difficult top control.

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: <dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com>; "North American Fruit Explorers" 
<nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 11:43 AM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] pruning apple trees


> > 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.
>
>
> That's a great slide show, Dennis. Thanks for posting the link.
>
> But what would happen if you removed the leader entirely? In that drawing, 
> assume that you don't want the tree to get any taller. What would happen 
> if you just removed the leader, down to that horizontal branch to the left 
> (the seventh scaffold in the picture)?
>
> I suppose you'd get some watersprouts on it, and some other buds would try 
> to send up a vertical shoot, but they'd be pretty easy to keep pruned off, 
> wouldn't they? No doubt I'm overlooking something, but a leader - any 
> vertical shoot, I suppose - is just going to want to get taller. If you 
> removed those, and left only the more horizontal branches, wouldn't that 
> slow down the upward growth?
>
> I'm learning a lot here, but I've got SUCH a long way to go. :-)
>
> Thanks much,
>
> Bill
> Lincoln, NE (zone 5)
>
> --
> You can't say civilization isn't advancing: in every war they kill you in 
> a new way. - Will Rogers