Your problem is most likely related to bipeds, not squirrels. Squirrels are not that thorough. They will steal a couple of apples here and there, but they will not strip your tree clean. Someone is stealing your apples, I recommend a video camera hooked to your computer to catch the perpetrator. Now of course if you just lost all of your winesap apples, and they are still 3 months from ripening, then you might have squirrels that think they are nuts. But it's not likely, because squirrels hunt by their nose, and would only go after the apples when they are ripe.

I think that the culprit(s) are racoons. Any advice on to stop them?

Don't say that. Raccoons have finally found my corn and they'll easily strip every apple off my espaliers a few feet away.

My sister catches garbage dumping raccoons in a havahart, but Animal Control told her that was illegal (trapping without a license, trapping out of season) and she had to release them where she caught them (her garbage can???).
May as well follow the 3 S's (shoot, shovel, shut-up) if possible or use a kill trap or poison.

They're smarter than squirrels and more dexterous so I wouldn't count on any hindrance methods working if coons are the problem.

Myk:

Live traps can be effectively used against raccoons, followed by a coup-de-grace shot in the head with a hi-speed pellet gun or a very quiet .22CB. Results can be bagged and sent out with the trash, or taken to the trash bin of the local 7/ll.

Animal control should not be consulted by anyone who really wants to solve animal problems. They do not control animals, but they do their best to control people in accordance with their current animal theology.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Been using electric fence around my apple and plum trees for maybe 5-6 years,very effective against raccoons and squirrels. I wrote up my methods in this forum a few years ago.

kiro
I suspect that you have properly identified the culprit. The bushy-tailed tree rats will, indeed, strip every fruit from a tree - and often long before they're anywhere near ripe. They don't share, and have no sense of fair play. It's time to institute all-out warfare against them, and remember, they are NOT an endangered species. Live-traps(followed by termination), snares, large rat-traps, and even the old peanut butter/Plaster-of-Paris bonbons are all elements which you should consider integrating into your offensive. Remember, nature abhors a vaccuum, and even if you remove 100 of the vermin, new ones will constantly be moving in from the periphery, so you have to always maintain diligence in the task.

I plan on clearing all trees surrounding the Apple tree so that they cannot climb on them that way. I also will remove the lower branches and greese up the base/trunk of the tree next year, so that they will not be able to climb up. If that fails, then I will have to go the trapping route. Thanks for all of your help.

I think I could handle squirrels more than I can handle Japanese Beetles skeletonizing my apple trees! Blasted things!

Are we talking about squirrels again? I don't think grease will do anything, but maybe they won't like it on their feet.
You could try a collar like they use around bird feeder poles.

But if they want it bad enough they will figure out a way. They can jump pretty far and climbing trees is their job.

Collars would probably stop raccoons. They do climb but they're clumsier than squirrels.
A squirrel would figure out how to bypass the collar, a raccoon would figure out how to remove it.
Food grade grease would probably attract raccoons.

Squirrels can jump at least 10 feet horizontally, probably a little less straight up. Al

Any non-lethal controls directed against squirrels will be more or less ineffective, perhaps with the exception of h.teder's electric fencing.
If you're unwilling to employ lethal methods against the vermin, then you need to get h.teder to elaborate on his/her fencing methods. Pruning and greasing will not deter squirrels nor raccoons.

Electric fence on fruit trees.
Both squirrels and raccoons are a problem for me. Squirrels stripped my 2 plum trees of fruit in days, most apples disappeared, raccoons broke a young apple tree by climbing it. For the last 5-6 years, the electric fence has kept the varmints out. I set up the fence when my plums are showing some color, keep it going until apples have been picked. One year I disconnected it while grandkids were visiting and forgot for 2-3 days, and every plum disappeared.
I use a fence charger that Fleet Farm used to sell (about $ 18), meant to keep dogs and cats out . They may still have it, or any other low-priced unit will do. The idea is to keep the varmints from climbing up the trunk of the tree.
I wrap the trunk of every tree with wire mesh (hardware cloth), from ground up to about 2 ft. high, this will be the ground terminal. Connect a wire from from the cloth to a large nail stuck in the ground. Run a wire from the ground terminal of the charger to the nail. You only need this charger wire on one tree, the others will connect through the ground.
The charger hot terminal connects to a spiral of galvanized wire (16 or 18 gauge) around the trunk, with turns about 6 inches apart and spaced about 3 inches above the wire mesh with insulators. The idea is to have the hot wire high enough above the mesh so the squirrel cannot just jump over it, but low enough so it cannot climb under it.

The spirals need to be insulated from the ground mesh. I made the insulators by cutting ½  wide pieces of 3" plastic pipe, then cutting the circles in half. A hole drilled at each end of the half-circle, one hole for the wire, other for the nail that attaches it to the tree. I suspect there are better ways to make the insulators.

An insulated wire connects from the hot spiral to the hot (red) terminal of the fence charger. I run this wire to the nearest tree, then from there to the next tree, keeping wire about 2 feet above the ground. If it touches the ground, it will short out quickly, unless the insulation is very heavy duty, like 1000 volt rating. The charger voltage is quite high (several hundred volts) , but limited to very low current for safety. This means that a human would get a unpleasant shock, but not enough to injure (or be unable to let go). I did find a red squirrel dead under the hot wire once, apparently it was not safe for him.
My fence charger sits outside, under a 5 gallon bucket (with a heavy rock on top). I check every few days to make sure the setup is still working, bought a cheap tester (about $ $ 2-3).

Can someone recommend an electric fence that I can purchase to wrap around 4-6 peach and apple trees. This year I am serious about keeping the squirrels out of my trees.

Anyone who suggests that squirrels won't remove every apple from a tree can consider themselves ignorant and very lucky.