Aloha!
My husband and I just bought a home in Pittsburgh, PA, and with our yard came a little dwarf apple tree! From the previous owner, I gather that it is roughly 5 years old, a dwarf tree, and that it produced a few apples a couple years, but it has not produced last year or this year. She thinks she pruned it incorrectly. She is right. My tree appears to have 3 leaders, and while I don't prune for quite a while, I'm already clueless as to how I should proceed. In researching, I found that my tree looks very similar to the diagram on correct & incorrect pruning (a ways down the page) at this site- http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/p ... c1351.html -I'd place my tree on the incorrect side, in between the 1 yr and 6-8yr mark.
To remove 2 of the leaders now will result in a very lopsided tree and mean removing about 2/3 or more of the foliage/branches. That just seems VERY drastic to do at one time. How should I proceed in gearing it back into a correct pruning schedule? Any guidance will be greatly appreciated!
New Home; Poorly Pruned Tree
Moderator: appledude
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- Posts: 19
- Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2008 7:30 am
If you're serious about having apples, I suggest you start from scratch. Dig out this malformed, incorrectly pruned tree and replace with one or more quality trees that suit your personal apple preferences and locale. You will be infinitely happier with the results of your efforts. You have time to study up on the planting and care of apples before spring planting time is here. Don't forget to browse the topics in this forum for insights and suggestions.
Unless you cut off all the budwood, your pruning probably had nothing to do with the lack of apples.
You should get apples even if the tree is not "perfectly" pruned. Do you have a pollinator (another tree of a different variety)? Have you done a soil test to see what "food" your tree needs?
Your tree doesn't need to look like textbook pictures to produce. At the age it is now, it would take some drastic cutting to get it back into shape. I would follow the previous recommendation and start over or just enjoy the tree as it is. Drastic pruning at this point will create a lot of vegetative growth that you will be battling for years. The tree will probably never look like a textbook even if an experienced tree trimmer tried to repair it.
If you want to be really crazy, you could cut it back to the stump and let it shoot out again and start over. Choose a nice big limb that comes out of the stump that is well branched and create a "new" tree. It will take years of patience and some aggressive trimming, but it can be done. Won't take any longer than planting a new tree.
You should get apples even if the tree is not "perfectly" pruned. Do you have a pollinator (another tree of a different variety)? Have you done a soil test to see what "food" your tree needs?
Your tree doesn't need to look like textbook pictures to produce. At the age it is now, it would take some drastic cutting to get it back into shape. I would follow the previous recommendation and start over or just enjoy the tree as it is. Drastic pruning at this point will create a lot of vegetative growth that you will be battling for years. The tree will probably never look like a textbook even if an experienced tree trimmer tried to repair it.
If you want to be really crazy, you could cut it back to the stump and let it shoot out again and start over. Choose a nice big limb that comes out of the stump that is well branched and create a "new" tree. It will take years of patience and some aggressive trimming, but it can be done. Won't take any longer than planting a new tree.