cliff_the_gardener wrote:

Do not be put off by pruning, it sounds a lot more complicated than it
really is. Just remeber the advice in the previous post -
If you follow the regular advise for winter pruning, removed dead
diseased, dying, crossing branches and reducing last years leader
growth by 1/3rd you won't go far wrong

So far I've been concentrating on trying to get the structure of the
trees sorted out -- removing crossing branches and opening out the
centre of the tree. Because I don't want to take too much off the
trees at once, I think this may take a few years.

What part of the o****ry are you in? Are your trees still dormant. If
so you still have time to prune them.

We're in west Somerset -- between the Quantocks and Exmoor. There's no
sign of life from the trees yet. We're quite exposed to the north-east
and the winds have been fairly bitter for the last few weeks, so that
might have something to do with it.

As your apples haven't been pruned for 15 years they need some
attention. Do you recall what varieties you have got? If you know, I
can tell you which are Tip or Spur bearers.

I spent some time examining the trees yesterday. I know two are
Bramleys, which I believe are combined tip/spur-bearers. There are
others of uncertain variety that look like they could be persuaded to
be spur-bearing. The previous owners left me a map of these trees which
is clearly wrong, but gives the names:

Annie Elizabeth
Laxtons Epicure
Discovery
Royalty
Howgate Wonder
Cox
Sunset

It's all somewhat confusing: all the trees are on a dwarfing rootstock,
I assume (the trunks are only about two feet tall), but whereas the
Bramleys are still around 20ft high, some of the others aren't even six
feet high and are considerably more spindly. I'm inclined to believe
that some of the trees have been replaced over the years.

Of the cider apples, one is definitely a Yarlington Mill (the bark had
trapped the name tag as it grew). The other thirteen are complete
unknowns.

You would be unlucky to have selected all tip bearers. Most apples are
typically spur bearers.
I know you said that you are looking for fruit, do the trees flower and
produce any fruit?

They do, though the fruit has been fairly small in some cases. I guess
for obvious reasons. Last year the fruiting was very poor, but I put
that down to the very cold and windy period during May when the trees
were in blossom.

As far as the quince goes, the lean sounds dramatic. From your
comments it too must be an age. Has the wind blown it over or is it
growing just with a lean? A friend has a Crawley Beauty that has must
have been blown over when young; a good six feet of the trunk lies on
the ground before it goes vertical. Hasn't done it any harm.

The lean is fairly dramatic, yes It must be at about 45 degrees
to the horizontal now.

I think the tree may not have been suitably staked originally and has
developed the lean as it has grown perhaps because of the wind, or
because the weight of the tree is now largely on one side, or both.

I've not decided whether I'm going to allow it to collapse further if
that happens, or to attempt to prop it in its current position. I
don't have much use for the fruit, but I rather like the tree and I
believe it's quite a favourite with the bees, so as long as it's not
dangerous or causing problems with neighbouring trees I'll do what I
can to keep it going.

James