Pruning Your Apple Tree

5-N-1 Dwarf Variety Apple Tree

Today is April fool's Day and that's when I prune my apple trees. No kidding! To begin, this post is not intended to cover all the pruning knowledge that I have acquired from a small orchard of 12 trees and cramming Apple Growing courses at Kemptville Agricultural College. However, I will cover the importance of pruning and some tips. Firstly, pruning your tree will send a signal to the tree to prompt new vigorous growth. Without pruning, the tree will grow leggy and will become a mass of branches making the tree weak.
a) Trim 1/3 of last year's growth cutting in front of a bud pointing towards the sky,  (cutting the branch where the bud points down will produce a weaker new branch susceptible to breaking.
b) Remove any lower branches (it's a tree, not a bush) and make sure the tree guard is in place.
c) Remove any branches growing inward as all branches should grow outwards.
d) Ideally, the branches should run more parallel to the ground than upwards. If you only have one or two trees you can attach a heavy object like a fishing sinker to each branch to pull it down. However, this is not practical in a large orchard. If you think you have trimmed too much, you have probably done a great job. My apple growing Instructor always said "if a big robin can fly through the trimmed tree, it's perfect"!  I will cover tree selection, pollination and planting tips in a future post! Prune on, my friend!