Advice for Severe Pruning (Apple / Plum)

16 years ago

This past summer, I moved into a house that has about a dozen fruit trees in the yard. It's obvious that they've all been neglected for years. Many were planted 10 feet apart but are now 20 feet high, so you can imagine how fiercely their branches invade the space of proximal trees. It seems every tree (except the plums) are producing loads of fruit, although 90% of the fruit is either infected or too high to reach without a bucket-truck.

I'm a newbie in tree-care, and I'm researching pruning methods to prepare for this winter. So far, what I've read about pruning presumes that the trees have been somewhat attended in recent years.

Can I cut a central leader if the diameter is 5 inches, without devastating the tree? I imagine these trees in the size and shape that I'd like them to be, which is quite disproportionate to what I imagine their root system must look like. Is it hopeless for these trees?

Does anyone have any experience, guidance, advice or reading referrals for severe pruning methods?

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Comments (3)

alan haigh
16 years ago
Apples survive a tremendous amount of wood removal if they're healthy to begin with- plums not so much. I've lost track of how many old neglected apple trees I've remodeled but when I started doing this professionally I read Hall-Bayer's "Ecological Fruit Production in the North" which has a very easy to understand chapter on getting overgrown apple trees back into production.

After spending half my work days pruning mostly apple trees for the last 20 years I've developed my own systems, of course, but a lot of the trees I face could be quite adequately managed using the photos and explanations in this book.

If the plums are Japanese you can go after them more aggressively then Europeans.

Yes, you can usually get away with removing the largest scaffolds on any healthy tree, depending, I guess, on local insect and disease pressure. Here in southeastern NY I don't believe I've ever had trees die from wounds I've inflicted on them and I remove whatever I have to to bring trees down in height. I just don't do it all at once.
calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
16 years ago
Making the cut as you describe if done the normal dormant pruning time will very likely cause several rapidly growing water sprouts around the edge of the cut. Drastic pruning to reduce the tree size, besides being done a few cuts a year, would better be done in the summer which is much less likely to cause a flush of water sprouts. Al
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alan haigh
16 years ago
The difference in season is not important as far as water sprouts- they're easy to remove. I prune winter, spring and summer and watersprouts are the least concern when you're dealing with an out of control apple tree.

The best thing would be to get started as soon as possible than come back mid to late summer and do some more. It's always good to mop out water sprouts when renovating to get the light where you need it but waiting until summer to get started would be a waste of time IMO.

I actually believe that the safest time to remove largest scaffolds is late summer because the sun is weakening and sun scald seems less likely from my frequent observation. By the time strong sun returns the following spring the apple has already generated enough active new leaf bud to assure adequate transpiration to cool cambium.

Summer pruning does not stop plenty of new water sprouts in the spring and only reduces vigor over time.