Any tips and advice about cutting back an old apple tree. It was here when we bought the house and I wails say has not been cut back in years. It is much too large it had loads of fruit last yr but all very small. Should I go lightly with the cut back or really go for it. I have only ever had cherrie trees before and they liked a hard prune back every few yrs any hints?

On 29/01/2013 01:21, Plymouth82 wrote:
Any tips and advice about cutting back an old apple tree. It was here
when we bought the house and I wails say has not been cut back in years.
It is much too large it had loads of fruit last yr but all very small.
Should I go lightly with the cut back or really go for it. I have only
ever had cherrie trees before and they liked a hard prune back every few
yrs any hints?

I have the same problem. I am going to have a good hack in the centre
to allow better air flow, but only give a light pruning to the outer
branches. If you really go for it all round you will almost certainly
lose all hope of fruit this year.

--

Jeff

Hi Plymouth, further to the other replies, I'd like to add the following:-
start by removing any diseased or broken branches,
next, any branches that are crossing and rubbing,
then any that are growing towards the centre of the tree,
then thin out the remainder evenly.
This should have removed about the said 1/3.
The problem with old trees is that they tend to make very little new growth (the reason for pruning in the first place)
You might find (depending on variety) that this coming year, if you have removed too much, that it makes alot of new sappy growth. If so, come first week of August, cut these back by 1/3 to an outward growing bud (they will then produce fruit spurs the following spring !!
The eventual aim is to get a balance between new growth and fruit (the fewer the fruit, within reason, the larger they will be. Aim for an 'open' and
'goblet' shaped tree.
regards,
Lannerman.

"Plymouth82" wrote in message
...

Any tips and advice about cutting back an old apple tree. It was here
when we bought the house and I wails say has not been cut back in years.
It is much too large it had loads of fruit last yr but all very small.
Should I go lightly with the cut back or really go for it. I have only
ever had cherrie trees before and they liked a hard prune back every few
yrs any hints?

Over the next few years, prune it back hard. By that I mean to pick a major
branch and to take that back hardin this year, next year pick another major
branch and cut that back.

If you go at it all in one go, you will end up with more new growth than
hair's on a dog's back.

If you are planning to do major pruning then do it in late autumn or early winter when the trees go dormant. Late winter and early spring is the best time to prune apple fruit trees. This should be done before the new bud appear. Remove all the old, dead, diseased and damaged branches from the tree. Also remove the branches that are weak, cross each other or grow downward. Make all the cuts flush with the main branch without damaging the bark.