Pruning Time for the Apple Trees
Wintertime pruning continues at my Bedford, New York farm - this week, the apple trees!
If you grow these wonderful fruit trees, the best time to prune them is now - in winter - or in very early spring before any new growth begins. Pruning not only helps to develop proper shape and form, but also encourages new growth, promotes high fruit yield, and maintains good tree health. My outdoor grounds crew is busy pruning all the old apple trees. Many of these apple trees are original to the farm, and with good maintenance and regular trimming, these trees will continue to bring bounties of delicious, juicy apples for many years to come.
Enjoy these photos.
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- The apple tree is a deciduous tree in the rose family best known for its sweet, pomaceous fruit, the apple. I have many different varieties growing at my farm. During a good apple season, I make lots and lots of cider. This past autumn, my granddaughter, Jude, took on this tradition and made many quarts of delicious, naturally sweet juice.
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- A good number of my apple trees are at least 50-years old, so they were already here when I purchased the property. Here’s a late summer photo when the grass is green and the trees are full of fruits. This apple tree is next to some old quince trees not far from my old corn crib.
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- Here’s another image from this past October when the trees were laden with fruits. Everyone here at the farm loves apple picking season and I share the apples with friends, family and of course, my horses. For cider, the apples need not be flawless, but they should be free of spoilage, which would cause the juice to ferment too rapidly.
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- These are the “ancient” apple trees in the middle of the horse paddock in front of my Winter House. To maintain productive fruit trees, they do need regular maintenance and pruning once a year. Now is the time to prune these trees. The tree takes up a dormant state after shedding its leaves and before sprouting new buds. Pruning is best completed just before growth starts in the spring as cuts will heal quickly. There are two main goals of pruning trees. On young trees, pruning encourages a strong, solid framework. And on mature trees like these, they usually already have their shape determined, so it’s important to maintain their shape and size. Traditionally, apple trees were always encouraged to stay shorter, so apples were easier to reach.
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- Looking up, one can see all the new growth that needs trimming. These are water sprouts. Water sprouts are thin branches which normally grow straight up from lateral branches and do not bear fruit.
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- Pasang is an excellent pruner and does a lot of the smaller tree pruning projects at the farm. Here he is pruning the new growth off of the top of this apple tree in front of my studio.
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- Pruning encourages the tree to grow more of these fruiting spurs by eliminating competing suckers and unproductive wood.
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- As with any pruning project, it’s important to cut the three “Ds” – dead, diseased, and damaged branches. This is a dead branch – notice the dark brown wood. Dead branches, or those without any signs of new growth, are cut, so the energy is directed to the branches with fruiting buds.
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- Pasang also cuts branches that are rubbing or crisscrossing each other, preventing any healthy new growth. Basically, the goal is to create a tree with well spaced lateral branches. Any branches which interfere with the tree’s shape or create a dense framework should be removed.
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- The final cut on each unwanted bough needs to be alongside the “branch collar”, a raised ring of bark where the branch intersects with another branch. Growth cells concentrate in these nodes, causing fast bark regrowth which seals the cuts.
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- Pasang is careful to check every section as he works. It is a time consuming task, but good, thorough pruning is important for the health of the tree. I always prefer hand tools that will give my trees a more natural appearance and shape. Smaller twigs are snipped off with regular secateurs. Each member of my outdoor grounds crew has a pair.
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- Down below – all the cut branches. There is a lot of pruning to do on these trees – they are healthy and have produced a lot of growth in the last year.
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- Here, Pasang removes crowded branches to help let in light and promote good air circulation.
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- Some of the apples still remain – holding tight to their branches.
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- Here’s Phurba working on the ground to gather all the cut branches. After all the branches are cut, they are gathered, neatly piled, and then either saved for kindling or processed through a wood chipper to make mulch.
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- It looks much better now after pruning. Once the tree is pruned, the crew stands back and takes a look to make sure nothing was missed. The end goal is to encourage good fruit production.
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- On healthy trees, about a third of the growth can be pruned. Spur branches where the apple tree flowers and sets fruit are the most preferred. Pasang is working on one of the trees in the horse paddock.
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- The new growth should be pruned fairly flush to the branch from which it grew. The idea is to leave slight stubs. By removing any more, the remaining branch has too much of an opening for disease to enter.
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- By day’s end, it looks so much better.
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- This apple tree is near my tennis court. The crew gathers any debris in my trusted Martha Stewart Multi-Purpose Heavy Duty Garden Totes. These totes are strong enough to hold more than 900-pounds.
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- And these trees are behind my herbaceous peony bed – also original to the farm. I am looking forward to many lustrous green trees heavy with rosy red fruit come autumn. The crew has pruned a good number of apple trees in the last few days, but there are still many more to go – keep up the good pruning, guys!
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