Apple Pruning time
Wisconsin
You folks with apple trees in your woods or in your yards should be out there pruning them. I have been working on my Minnesota trees for over a week now. I have neglected some of my trees for too long and spending multiple hours on a single tree. Those are mostly ones with standard root stock so they are big trees to start with. Be sure to disinfect your cutting tools with rubbing alcohol before you move to the next tree so you don't spread any diseases.
The turkey's pruned mine for me....
Tweed, you need to plant taller trees.
Is there a reason to prune apple trees that are never used by people for fuit? About 6 trees are scattered through 100 acres, grow apples, apples fall & wildlife sometimes eats them. Normally the apples lay there untouched for most of the year. Deer walk past them & ignore them for whatever reason. Is there a good reason for me to climb up these monstrous trees and give them a flat top?
Conventional wisdom is to prune no more then 1/3. So if you need to make major changes, it will take more then one year. Also, the more you cut, usually, the more water sprouts you get. So this is a situation where more is not better.
Prune till you can throw your hat throw the branches.
Trapper- Those big trees are more expensive to plant. I just need to thin the local turkey population.
What and when should I spray them? Last fall it seems tiny wood peckers pecked rows of tiny holes on one of my trees.
I am afraid I am breaking the 1/3 rule on some trees.
Timo, any dead stuff should be cut out and if branches are rubbing each other. Another thing is if more than 2 branches sprout from the same spot they should be thinned down to two or they eventually fight each other for space.
Tweed, I heard you should be able to throw a cat through the tree but maybe it was my bad hearing and he might have been saying hat.
Cat would be more entertaining 8-D
Another thing the orchard guy teaching a pruning class said is that if you leave one water sprout it will greatly reduce the number of new water sprouts. Says it is a hormone thing for apple trees. Well, it doesn't work. At least not when you do significant pruning.
This is a 3rd yr liberty. Last yr there was 3 apples on it at yr 2. I pruned it the other day and took off every branch except the central leader. It seemed like I was defeating the purpose but I want it to grow wood mass and only branches 5ft+.
It's definitely a cat, not a hat. I always thought I heard 'cap'. It's a often brought up topic lately on the fruit tree forums. I like the cats to keep mice out of orchard so I personally don't toss them
Bench grafted 150 apple rootstocks this weekend. I get almost as excited for tree planting season as the rut
Wednesday evening we had perfect wind for burning the trimmed branches from my apple trees in Minnesota. The original pile in the middle of the pic is other branches from last fall, the rest is all from apple trees. Some of the water sprouts I cut off were 2 inches in diameter. Many of them around an inch. I neglected these older trees for several years. Most of the branches are from 10 trees, the rest were from trees that were not as big or were trimmed recently.
The second pic is more apple tree branches on the other side of the ones in the first pic. As these branches were burning I trimmed 2 more trees that were real bad that would have been as much brush as you see in foreground of the first of the two pics I posted. (not counting the tarp covered pile in the middle)
I am back at Hayward now and time to start trimming here. This won't be as hard of work as they were all trimmed last year.
P.S. My cant is a really good mouse catcher and way too old to throw through any apple trees so I guess I will use a hat.
can someone explain the how and why to pruning apple trees?
Here are some of the why's about purning but google pruning apple trees for how to do it. I think I covered some of the basics above.
Apple trees need sunlight to grow good apples so pruning to get light into the tree is important. Light also helps keep fungus and other diseases away. If you plan to pick the apples you don't want to have to climb too high to get them picked. You don't want to have some branches get so many apples that the branch breaks, so try to keep the tree 'ballanced' instead of having one branch carry too much load.
Apple trees (even in the same variety) come in various mature size potential. Dwarf, Semi Dwarf, and Standard. Actual size varies from about 6' high to 30'. If you are planting with the goal of feeding critters then Standard is the way to go. If you have a tiny yard and don't want to use a ladder to pick and prune then dwarf. Most people go semi because they can still get a lot of apples off a tree but are still manageable to maintain. Standard size trees are also difficult to reach high enough for spraying.
What RJN did by clipping off low branches early on is a good thing if you don't want to be ducking branches when mowing. Deer will likely chew them off anyway.
Can you have too many apple trees? I have 50 seedlings growing in the house at the moment. I plan on planting them In our fenced garden area along the fence edge until they reach 3-5' tall.
Gojakes- I don't think you can have to many. One thing that I'm trying to do in our orchard is have varieties that drop early, mid season, and late so there is always apples available to the deer. I would plant all those trees in an orchard and not all over a property. The last property I leased had apple trees scattered throughout the property with no main trails to them, it was a hard piece to hunt when I thought it would be very good.
GoJakesgo, it will be interesting what the seedlings develop into. The variety of "apples" may be Heinz57.
My absolute favorite eating apples are: Snowsweet, Sweet 16, Honeygold, State Fair, Honeycrisp, Harolson, Harolred. I probably forgot a few.
A new one called Rave is out now by the University of Minnesota but may not be available here yet. Not sure is of it's zone rating but growers in Washington state have it.
The link is a list of U of M apples.
Well, last night I pruned four peach tree's for my dad. By the time I was done, I could just about throw the ladder through the older ones. We'll see how it works out. Hopefully far less peaches, but larger sized.
Midwest Whitetail just had a segment on what to plant and how to prune apple trees. Link provided.
Just finished pruning 22 apples, 2 pear, 2 plum. Prune every year, plant full sized, deer keep lower pruned. If a bird can fly through their good.
thanks for the info. We planted 5 trees round 1990 and put up an 8' tall wire fence around them all about 20'x20'. Were down to 3 trees and removed most of the fence about 10 years ago. We never pruned, sprayed or did anything to them and didn't get any apples either. Last year the apples were big, tasty and lots of them. Is it odd that we got our first good apples at year 30?
That is odd, but last year was a good year for a lot of orchards, mine included.
Tomorrow will be a first for me. I will be trimming with snowshoes on. I was trimming today and there is a hard crust about 8 inches below the fluff. Most of the time I could walk and stand on that crust but broke through in some areas. That crust is about 20 inches above where my feet would end up when I broke through. Kind of like trimming on a small ladder but without the ladder. I will still have to go back with a ladder later to trim what I can't reach now but I will have a lot done without the ladder. I had a doe and yearling watching me part of the time.
Drop Tine: The link and video you provided from Midwest Whitetail was one of the most comprehensive and easy to follow/understand that I’ve seen on pruning. Thank you.
Yes, thanks DT. Finally a video that explains WHY trimming is needed not just how.
Very good video. Another way to train a branch (like with the stick he used) is to save your throw away socks and put a rock in them. Then clothes pin the sock to modest size branches and let gravity move the branch down over time. I re-positioned a few socks to other branches yesterday. The 6x6 concrete mesh is what I also use to keep deer off the main branches. Watch close for branches rubbing on the mesh and cut out sections of the mesh where you need to.
Just a reminder for those who know but forget. You can root those "cuttings" and grow a new apple tree. It is pretty easy. Watch a video, but a branch, stick it in sand and keep it moist. Plant it when it gets good roots.
Well, I wore the snowshoes trimming today. It worked great. I finished all the trees as far as I could reach standing on the snow shoes. About 30 trees total. Now for the top third but I will probably wait until the snow is mostly gone before bringing the ladder out. I have a lot of oaks, birch, and other trees I can mess with in the meantime. I clipped a branch off of a maple to test the sap flow. Way to much flow to trim those now. An eagle flew over getting harassed by a crow.
Wondering if I could get some advice from you guys. I cleared out about 1 1/2 acres on a ridge top because it was pretty much either dead or unwanted trees. I have a food plot in the middle and along the edges I planted 4 Kiefer and 2 Parker pear trees in one area. I then planted about 20 Chestnut crab apples trees around the rest of the area. I now want to mix in a few regular apple trees for pollination purposes. I was thinking either Macintosh , Liberty, Enterprise or a mixture. Any suggestions?
I planted gala. They look healthy in rich black soil and do ok in the cold.
It sounds like you have the early part of bow season covered. I would put some mid and late season Apple tree varieties in now. Library, Kerr, Enterprise, Northwest Greening, Galarina, Freedom, and Florina Querina would fit that bill. It is also very important to protect the bases of your trees from voles, mice, and rabbits. I use a piece of 18” x 36” aluminum window screen and staple the screen together around the trunk. It is also necessary to put a wire cage around the tree to protect from deer. I personally have been using 5’ x 12’ concrete wire mesh with one T- post with great results. Fruit trees are an investment you HAVE to protect or you will surly pay the price. Hope this helps.
I would add Haralson and/or Harolred. Very late season and even stay on the tree till spring. Keep well and taste good and even better in pie. For holding the concrete mesh I cut treated 2x2 to 4' long. Put a point on one end and screw as sheetrock screw at about a 45 degree angle pointed down about 10" from the top. Then weave it thru the mesh about 5 squares high and back out at mesh 1 or 2 and drive it in with that screw ending up over the top of a mesh. 3 per tree. Has worked well and come out easier than T posts. I hope you have a means to get water to them for a few years.
Liberty and enterprise are very good, not sure about McIntosh. Caging them is a must along with aluminum screen, landscaping fabric for weeds, and pea gravel.
When is it to late to trim?...two weeks ago my friend went to trim a few apple trees then his pole saw broke, the main tree I hunt over is only half done
Bayfield county, I would say at least a couple of weeks of time left. I am trimming in SE Minnesota the next couple of days yet, hope this wind quits. Maple trees should be avoided till the sap quits running and it was still running strong in Hayward a week ago.
Thanks guys, all my trees are caged, have tree guards and wire mesh, as well as I pruned them 2 weeks ago. With all the rain last summer I did not need to water them after about a month after planted. Hopefully they are established enough for this year unless a major dry spell in which I will need to get them water. I will water this years planted trees as needed. After looking at different varieties I noticed they recommended certain varieties that pollinate better with others. Late season varieties for my setup sounds like the answer, thanks again. I have 200 red oak trees coming end of April, does not look like tree planting weather out there today, hopefully weather will cooperate soon.
The compatible companion thing is that the pollen matures at the same time as other trees. So group the compatible species in the same small area. Seems obvious but I have known people that didn't do that.
Another important thing is to put up a big sign that says 'Bees are welcome here'. :-)
I don't think you will have a problem with pollination regardless of what varieties you plant because the crab apples that you have already planted flower early and hold their flowers for a long time. As a result, they will pollinate any apple varieties that you decide to plant including early and late varieties.
Yes, chestnut crabapples are excellent pollinators. I've planted 3, hopefully more in the future. I have 2 Franklin cider trees and 5 Chinese Chestnuts coming in 2 weeks.
Hey Jeff count me in on not knowing why some trees pollinate with others better Ha. I have owned 2 working farms pretty much my whole adult life but they were never really suited for wildlife or did I have the time. 4 years ago I purchased 100 acres with 80 wooded just for outdoor recreation. Started out with fixing erosion with water ways, dikes and a pond. Then clear cut a area along with another pond, planted trees, hinge cut all unwanted trees on all 80 acres (big job). This year oak trees, few more apple trees and if time I am sure I will find something else. Problem is I am learning as I go but having the time of my life, like one big playground. I had been told about the chestnut crab being very good for pollination as well as very hardy so I am glad to hear good things from you guys also.
New apple trees planted, 2 fireside, 2 liberty from Woodstock Nursery. I have the vinyl spiral wraps on all my trees from last year as well as this years. Someone whose opinion I respect that has plenty of apple trees is telling me I should not keep these wraps on to long as the trunks of the trees will not develop as thick and strong as should be. Wondering from some of you guys in the know what your opinion on these wraps, and if I should get them off in summer? They have holes as well as stretch with the trees growth. Last years trees are showing life, lost one out of 27, hope I can get them through another year, after that I think my odds increase.
I have used the white tubes with the ridges on them, maybe a little more than 3" diameter. They did work good but I think they did some damage because I left them on a little too long. Not sure how long is good, and how long is too long. I am thinking something that fits loose like the white tubes may be better than something that wraps tight. I took my tubes off 2 years ago on most of my trees and went with a wet paint like product for winter scald and left the tubes off the last two years.
Thanks Jeff I think I will take them off for the summer.
Deer will prune and can kill an apple tree but how do apple trees attract deer when they are all caged up?
GoJakesGo - delayed gratification. It'll take a few years till the apple trees can take the abuse.
I would keep the cages around the trees for 6 yrs or so. Every yr I prune the branches below 5 ft. At 6 yr the tree should be producing and branches out of reach from deer.
Don't even get me started on grafting.
Don't even get me started on grafting.
Go Jakes Go, I also use 6X6 concrete wire. The does can reach their heads thru to pick up any apples that may have fallen. A deer will never kill a tree by nipping the tips of branches off. Just by rubbing or breaking the main leader. I leave mine on also for 5-7 years and then remove the wire when I need it for protecting newly planted. Of my 150 trees, most are now approaching 20 years old. Jeff from MN, You forgot Zestar, Cortland and Spartan on your list.
MF wrote: When is it to late to trim?...two weeks ago my friend went to trim a few apple trees then his pole saw broke, the main tree I hunt over is only half done. Mike, because of a litter of puppies, tapping Maple trees and other activities this year, I first pruned my Apple trees last night, May 1. I'm sure they will be perfectly fine as I have done in mid April many years in Central Wisconsin..
Trapper, my mistake, I have Zestar and even then I did not think of it.
I moved a 2 plus inch diameter oak yesterday. First dug the hole where it was going. Then dug around the tree and cut every root till I got as deep as I could reach. Used a sawzall on some of them. Got close to a 30" diameter and 16" deep ball. Then dug the new hole bigger. Then pushed the forks on a skid steer in at an angle from two sides and rotated it to lift the ball. Second side I did the rotate on the forks first then lifted the root ball up, and drove it to the new spot. Dropped it in and adjusted it. Amazingly the ball stayed virtually intact. Point is, I did not see any sap flowing so I think apple pruning now is still OK. Might avoid some bigger branches tho just to be safe. Maple sap is still flowing up here. I clipped a branch off that was in my way.
