On 2011-11-28, Roger Tonkin wrote:
Off to see daughter on Wednesday. Last night she calmly request that I
bring my lopers and prune her apple and pear trees! She moved in during
the summer and has had a good crop, but wants them controlled a little
bit.

Never having pruned fruit trees before, any guidance as to how to go
about it, things to avoid etc. Or shall I just follow my instincts!

Don't cut like a hedge! You'll remove all the fruiting branches and it
will be a few years before you get a crop again. My neighbour had a
gardener that did that, cut all the branches back heavily every 3 or 4
years. Rarely got a crop. The trees crop wonderfully now and aren't really
taking over.

Will established trees I tend to take out whole branches that are in the
wrong place, then I take out stuff growing into the centre of the tree -
it helps combat disease if air can move easily thru' the tree in summer.

With a lot of apple trees, if you prune back the side shoots off the main
branches to just a few buds, you will encourage fruiting buds to form.
Long whippy stuff shooting up, can be pruned back to sensible lengths.

But beware, hard pruning in winter will mean there is a lot of new growth
to prune next winter too!