Pruning apple trees

[niecee1963]

Does anyones know if it will hurt to still prune our apple trees this spring? I heard you should only prune in the fall. We do not really harvest to many of them and they have not been prunied for 10 years or so. My dad never pruned them and we bought  my parents home 5 years ago. I wouldn't want to kill off the trees or do any major long term damage.

[lavender]

You can summer prune apple trees but it is used only to thin out new growth. You should wait until the tree just begins to put out leaves. Prune in late winter to get old apple trees under control and spread out serious pruning over several years never removing more than a third of the canopy.

Check out this link for the section on summer pruning or just google it. http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/hgic1351.htm

[badmonkey]

I usually trim mine in the fall. This year I am trying spring. I cut off nearly anything that is growing vertically. I have one tree that was grown from a seed from The DuBois orchard. It hasn't produced any apples yet. Last year was the first year that it had flowers. I am hoping that it will do better this year.  

[badmonkey]

Maybe this explains why one of my trees hasn't produced yet. I have always cut off almost all of the vertical limbs. I will try to leave 2/3 of the canopy in tact this year.

You can summer prune apple trees but it is used only to thin out new growth. You should wait until the tree just begins to put out leaves. Prune in late winter to get old apple trees under control and spread out serious pruning over several years never removing more than a third of the canopy.

Check out this link for the section on summer pruning or just google it. http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/hgic1351.htm

 

[lavender]

I don't really know much about pruning of large trees but I do know that different types of apple trees require different pruning. You might want to do a bit of research.

The 1/3, 1/3,1/3 rule applies to large scale pruning of old growth. It keeps the tree producing flowers and fruit while undergoing pruning.

Usually around here it is the frost getting the flower buds that keeps trees from producing. If you open a flower bud and find it brown, the frost has killed it.

[mosha]

I prune my apple and pear trees in early spring...finished about 3 weeks ago.  After a few warm days, did the oil spray.  Light summer pruning is OK, especially if any branches appear to have contracted any disease.  

[niecee1963]

Thanks for the advice. Our leaves haven't opened yet, so maybe we will try to prune a few of the lower branches this spring. Next fall, 2009, do some of the upper branches. Our pear trees are in full blossom already, so they will need to wait.