Hi Scott,

There is an abundance of articles on pruning. In your case, sounds like you
need to
do a lot of it. Don't make the mistake of trying to correct everything in one
season.
Don't remove more than 1/3 of the tree in any season, and even that is pushing
things, a bit. You want to get rid of any inward growing branches. Perhaps
open up
the insides so that air and sunshine can penetrate more easily. Branches
crossing or
bumping into other branches should also be removed. I would recommend doing
this while the trees are dormant, say in very early spring. Summer pruning
encourages growth at the wrong time and weakens the tree for the Winter
season.
In any case, here are some references:

http://www.redwoodbarn.com/DE_DormPrunefruit.html

http://ag.arizona.edu/gardening/news...ing_vigor.html

http://www.ianr.unl.edu/pubs/horticulture/ec1233.pdf

http://www.eap.mcgill.ca/CPTFP_7.htm

http://www.hortsource.com/rlPpruning.htm

http://www.hortsource.com/rlPpruning.htm

http://www.treesaregood.com/treecare/pruning_young.aspx

These should keep you busy for a while, and hopefully you will find
what you are looking for.

Sherwin D.


scott wrote:

I recently bought a home in the Shenandoah Valley. There are several old
fruit trees on the property. Most have been neglected for many years. I
want to start trying to restore them a bit. The apple trees are first on
my list. One is a bit over 20 foot high. I don't think they've been
pruned for decades. How should I start with these trees? Can someone
point me to a source online that would help me with pruning them? It's
been 20 years since I lived in a house with enough yard to have any trees
so what little experience I've had is nearly gone from my memory.
Next project will be the mulberries. There are even a couple of white
ones that have been going wild for a long time. I'm told they were
planted in this area way back in an attempt to raise silk worms.

Thanks for any help
Scott