Pruning Apple Trees

I planted my first apple trees in April 2011. Now it’s time to prune my trees. When you buy an apple tree from a nursery they are already around a year or two old. So after a year in your yard, it’s time to start forming their architectural structure and create air flow.

You want your branches to angle at 10 and 2 to create the perfect shape. If they are too horizontal they may grow heavy and break. You also want the branches to grow away from the central limb. If you can throw a hat through your apple tree then you’ve done a fine job pruning.
When you trim a limb you want to make sure that you cut just above a bud and that the bud is facing outward. This way the limb that forms there will go away from the center of the tree. You want to trim the limbs that are too close together because they will rub together once the fruit forms and this could damage the tree. Remember to keep the air flow component in mind.

Make sure the tree gets plenty of water and nutrition for optimal growth. Now if you remember I also planted peach trees. We aren’t going to prune the peach trees until March. Pruning a peach too early will reduce their cold tolerance. You want to do the same kind of thing. Open up the tree, save the branches that are growing out and get rid of the ones growing down or horizontal. Give the tree room to breath and absorb the sunlight.
You can grow apple trees from seed. It’s a great kid project but you must use organic apples. My kids did this when they were 4 and 5 years old. They dried out the seed and put it in a paper cup filled with good soil and kept it watered, transplanting it when it outgrew the paper cup into a pot. (Make sure the paper cup has drainage holes) When it was big enough they planted the tree next to a neighbors apple tree so they could cross pollinate. Now our kids are 21 and 22! They can drive by our old house and still see their tree. You know what? It bears fruit.

So go out and Grow It First and Grow It Best!