What's up with this.... Anyone here have any insight on what to cut and why? Grandma has about 15 trees that need pruned and I don't want to hack them to death.....

The trees haven't been pruned in 15 years or so, so ideas?

Keith

Id say chop em down.

After 12 years or so apple trees start to die and produce less fruit.

Then give me the apple wood for my smoker.

But if you MUST save them, cut off every branch smaller than 2" or so.

They'll sprout right back in the spring.



HELPFUL LINK

Prune water sprouts and trunk suckers as a start. Depending on the past care of the tree there are several desirable shapes promoting air flow and light penetration. Other than the web has a number of sources that will explain things further.

I had 15 apple trees when I lived near Ephrata and a guy that had an orchard taught me a few things. Pruning is not too hard to figure out with some basic rules. Opening up the middle of the tree so the light can get in is important. Look for branchs that cross or rub and cut those out. Apples grow on spurs on the branch so when you view the tree, look for the spurs that would produce fruit that would ripen without rubbing on the branches. Otherwise any apples will have bruises etc. Snubbing the branchs at the end causes the branch to get bigger around rather than longer and will support fruit better than long skinny branchs. Size does matter.
A tree that hasn't been pruned in 15 years should be pruned incrementaly over a couple of seasons. It will produce a lot of water sprouts which can be cut as they show up. Also, consider spraying with dormant oil to kill critters that will hatch from eggs laid in the bark. Clean around the base of the tree so mice can't nest at the bottom as they can girdle a tree in a tough winter as they eat the bark when times are tough.
More here:
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/html/pnw/pnw400/#anchor1107873

Thanks for the advice....

Will get er' done...

Keith

I agree with all the advise given, and will also offer to do a tutorial on my trees if you are closer to Woodinville than Enumanimalsex.

A really quick and dirty method is to cut off all limbs going straight up, all limbs growing in toward the center of the tree and all limbs that cross another. Then whack off the dead limbs and you are in pretty good shape. If it's an old tree you can expect a ton of suckers the year after the first heavy pruning.

It depends on what you want, fruit or a shade tree . We deal with around 2500 trees here so our pruning program is different then most.
In your case take out the suckers first, then any branches that cross over each other after that just shape the tree like a xmas tree, longer branches on the bottom and shorter as you go up. After pruning, spray with a dormant spray and you are set. By the way a tree that is taken care of will last 20 to 30 years easy. If anyone is interested in learning we start pruning the middle of January

That there be the truth!

The wisdom has been to cut off any sap suckers and anything greater than wrist size. Some old trees often bear fruit when they are stressed.

Dude......... You have a real task on your hands. I would consider enlisting some day labor a.k.a Carlos and Ignasio. You will be working on those throughout the steelhead season......

I have a few trees around 60 years old that still produce more fruit than I know what to do with. Don't cut them down.

true dat! Some trees do have a limited production span....I believe pears trees are one. Not Apple trees. Prune them up right and in wo years you will be begging people to take apples

My lot is an old apple orchard. I cut the apple trees down to about a third of their original size. It opened up our water view. Cut everything that goes straight up. Apples are easier to prune than pears or peaches.

In addition to all the above, consider poking holes in the earth around the drip line perimeter (2 - 3 for a smaller tree, more for larger) and filling with a cup or so of organic fruit tree fertilizer just as they blossom out in the spring. Increased fruit quality and quantity are the reward....

Thanks again for all the advise. Although the trees currently produce fruit most of them dont produce more than 40-50 apples.

G-ma has apple trees, pear trees, peach trees, plum trees, philbert trees, etc. It's a 126 acre farm with lots of wildlife.

Although I can't hunt it at this point, I will be able to down the road and the blacktail bucks in there are some dandy's and they love to hit the orchard's after dark. I've got some great trail camera pics of them.

I just want to be sure there's lots of apples down the road so I can harvest a trophy buck!

Keith

The 12 year thing was told to be by a commercial Jonagold Orchard owner.

Second hand information then...at best.

I am a commercial Jonagold grower I am on my 14 year and still going strong