Below would be my advice for the majority of cultivars on a more vigorous rootstock. I have no expereince with Bud 9 but I know it is very dwarfing so until it fruits you probably only should prune out of balance branches (excessively large). With that rootstock, early fruiting should be automatic.

Remove all branches more than 1/3 the diameter of the trunk at point of attachment to trunk. Leave all other branches until tree begins bearing. Once that happens things get a bit more complicated.

Spread branches to about 15 degrees above horizontal.

Ted: Pretty much what the hman said. But I'll add this. In general, you train for precocity and prune to control size and correct the trees form. Spreading to just above horizontal is what I think about to improve precocity. Cutting out excessively vigorous branches is mostly about size and shape but I suppose it could contribute to early bearing in some way.

Some people even train the branches to below horizontal. But I've never done that. Guess I should try it once.

The Fruitnut

My experience is that oversized branches are more vegetative, whether upright or not. Fuji will kill you because of this if you are not stern with it. Larger diameter is like having a wider hose bringing up N. and water from the roots.

I first read about the 1/3 rule years ago in an article by a man who oversees the the management of thousands of acres of pears and apples in Washington and Oregon. For vigorous varieties his pruning crews would do nothing with newly planted trees except remove excessively large branches until trees would begin to bear.

In spite of all the major wood removed this leads to quicker yealds and better overall production apparently. It sure works for me, but remember that I said "vigorous varieties".

Well he's got a 6ft or so whip. Should he top it next year to promote branching or not and if so at what height?

heres a vid on training young trees

Here is a link that might be useful: umass young tree training

joe you are right, he did say unbranched. In that case I'd top it at about 18-24 inches to promote branching down low. There are training possibilities, depending on the system, that would not involve topping. Most of these are going to give you a tall skinny tree that needs support. I don't want a tall skinny tree that needs support. Maybe somebody else would.

Nothing is that simple.

The Fruitnut

"Well he's got a 6ft or so whip. Should he top it next year to promote branching or not and if so at what height?"

I would've done that by pinching as it grew. But yes, now that it's a 6' whip I'd say that's the best option.
He could wait and see if it happens to branch where he wants it to but if it doesn't that's wasted time and energy.

IMO the height is where you want it. I think I start mine at 24" so I'd cut it 3-4 buds above that. But that's too low for some people, especially those battling deer.

How on earth does a Bud 9 send out 6' of growth in a grafts first season? This surprises me, but I really should have read this question more carefully.

I would wait to see them begin to grow and than cut once I saw what the lateral buds are doing. I suspect that if the rootstock is correctly labled it will begin sending out latteral branches at first growth. If not, you will at least get a better response in terms of latteral branching by waiting out the first flush of growth before cutting. Otherwise you will be encouraging the tree to continue going straight up.

My experience is that you get the best branch angles by cutting back a vigorous shoot during the dormant season. If you cut back a 6ft shoot to 24 inches the resulting branches will have the desired wide angles. Tipping during the growing season gives just the tight angled crotches you don't want. Waiting is a crap shoot unless one has experience that says the branches will be as desired.

At this point precocity concerns need to take a back seat to proper tree structure. If you want an open vase, cut it back now. Even a central leader I'd cut it back to form that first tier of branches. If you want a tall spindle or something like that, then don't cut it. But the later will need support, a trellis or tall stake.

The Fruitnut

Waiting is a crap shoot when the house hands you loaded dice.

Tipping during the season requires training along with it.

The first was a whip, the next the second tier was tipped in during the season and trained (and this picture was before I tied them down and really trained them into position).

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Fruitnut, I consider you to be highly knowledgable on this subject, but your experience seems to contradict the literature considerably.

The hormonal affect of dormant stub cuts is to provide apical dominance to buds immediately below the cut. You can come back and pinch off all but the replacement central leader and 2 buds beneath it you intend as your first scaffolds, but that is the slow route to your destination. It will require frequent summer pinching to keep the 2 scaffolds subdominant to the leader, as well.

By waiting until after first flush the hormonal affect of cutting back is altered, encouraging growth throughout the tree. This way you don't have to sacrifice so much of the previous seasons growth. Second season should automatically bring about the growth of lateral buds- that's just how trees tend to grow (1 year straight up, next out). The tree has not exceeded desired height so there is no reason to cut it back in my opinion.

I understand that you don't think there is any other way to get the tree to fill out properly, and you may be right, but I doubt it. Even if you are correct that the tree will fail to generate new latteral growth unless tree is lowered to the point where you want your first branches, the response will be better by later pruning.

You can also encourage branching right where you want it by shallowly notching the trunk immediately above the bud you want to grow. It stops the flow of the stunting hormones from apical tips above.

My idea of cutting it back isn't that it won't branch it's that it won't put out branches were I want them.

I'll have to try that notching.

harvestman: You have more experience here than I do. All I'm sure about is that tipping or heading by a foot or two will result in very tight branch angles on my stone fruit. I've less experience on apples but believe I've seen the same there. These angles are so tight that the top two shoots may actually cross each other. Whereas if you head lower and later you will get very good wide angles.

Other than that I won't argue with anything anyone else has said.

The Fruitnut