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Thank you Karen! Very helpful.  I will proceed without fear of injuring
my trees.




                                                                        
             Karen Tillou                                               
             <arboretum@homeo                                           
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                                      Re: [NAFEX] Can I lightly prune   
             04/18/2008 12:03         my apple trees now that they      
             PM                       are      leafing out?             
                                                                        
                                                                        
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i would say yes to betsy and kelly - some light touch up pruning, a twig
here, a small branch there, will never go amiss anytime, even sundays.
after all my winter pruning is done, and i start mowing in the spring, i
am always touching up as i go by on the mower - usually removing low
growths and hangers that are trying to stab my eyes out as i drive by -
and as the fruit starts to weigh down branches into awful configurations
of droop and about-to-break.
as for your main pruning, kelly, i'd steer clear of bud break and bloom
and fruit set (spring) for a couple reasons: it is really easy to knock
around the fragile buds and fruitlets when pruning, and it's also a
period of strong root growth, which is adversely effected by above
ground pruning at the same time.  ditto about the root growth for fall
pruning, sept through nov.
the best times are when the tree is dormant for pruning to invigorate
the tree, young trees, encouraging branching, etc. dormant (visually)
means no leaves, and tight buds that aren't starting to swell.  (though
i am certainly guilty of pruning late winter as buds start to swell and
break... we probably all are.)
summer pruning is good for controlling the size of a vigorous tree, for
encouraging the formation of fruiting wood.  it's harder though, with
all the leaves and fruit in the way, to see the structure of the tree
and know what you want to remove. summer timing is maybe june-july, a
little into august.  it's certainly the best time to remove all those
unwanted new water shoots and suckers off the trunk and top if nothing
else.
good luck, and enjoy it.
karen

oregon city, OR - zone 8a and wet