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Pruning Apple Trees?

3K views 26 replies 20 participants last post by  Muskegonbow 
#1 ·
Is it too early to prune some apple trees or should I wait until late winter/early spring? TIA.
 
#7 ·
April has an "r" in it. Doubt that April is a highly recommended month.
Maybe ending in "r" is the saying. ??
I like the suggestion of "anytime between Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day".

L & O
 
#8 ·
Dang, I have been searching and searching but cannot find the info I am looking for.

Not sure if it was in a link someone posted on here but more likely it was a research paper I read elsewhere a few months back, but I am quite sure that the study frowned on fall pruning. Don't quote me on this but if memory serves me fall pruning did not really hurt the tree itself, but it had a detrimental effect on fruit production for a year or so. The paper stated why that was so but I just can't recall the reasoning. I will keep digging and see if I can locate the info. FM
 
#13 ·
My uncle owned an apple orchard and always trimmed in December. Usually was done before Christmas... We rabbit hunted the branch piles in January and February. Rabbits had food and cover in a one stop shopping event.. He usually burned the piles in late March..
 
#15 · (Edited)
I have been pruning for 15 years. Winter is the time and take off all vertical branches growing up. I use hand pruners, loopers, hand saw, chain saw, and extended chain saw .

You want to tree to grow wide...not up.

However it really all depends on your wants and needs. !! Some like natural growing high trees.
 
#18 ·
I have been pruning for 15 years. Winter is the time and take off all vertical branches growing up. I use hand pruners, loopers, hand saw, chain saw, and extended chain saw .

You want to tree to grow wide...not up.

However it really all depends on your wants and needs. !! Some like natural growing high trees.
If you want a side job some time i have 2 in yard that could use a real good hack job done on them !
 
#23 ·
If they can be to far gone i'm sure they are way past that i've lived here for 20yr's and never had them done ! but i'll try to get out when it stops raining and take a picture !
 
#21 ·
On a call May I also PM you a picture of a 100 year old Apple tree . Which produces lots of apples than drops them when they get golf ball size mid to late July. Tried mulching, tree fertilizer spikes
And watering in late June early July. This old tree uses to produce a great tasting Apple
 
#25 ·
Here is an interesting article on the effects of pruning and cold hardiness. In 2014 the orchard around my house lost a bunch of trees due to pruning before a very cold spell. Only half of the orchard was pruned before the cold set in and it was eye opening seeing the damage. For that reason I prune the few trees we have in late winter now.

https://extension.psu.edu/tree-frui...l division contributing to trunk and... More
 
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