O.K. here is what it looked like last june....

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It was over 15' tall then

Zounds! Don't expect any apples this year :-(

You may want to contact the Fulton County extension office and see if they offer any classes in fruit tree pruning. It's a bit late now but you will be better prepared to address what new growth may develop this year and learn how to prune for and develop fruiting buds in coming seasons.

btw, 15 feet is considered a dwarf apple - they don't get too much smaller than that unless you have a mini-dwarf and even they will reach 8-10' in time.

If it's like my apple tree, expect it to rebound with lots of new growth after such a drastic pruning, meaning you will really have prune carefully next year.

You pruned it back alot so one might say no pruning is needed for a few years, but my experience was that you will now get lots of straight vertical branches crowding each other near the top of the tree. Depending on how additional branches grow off these, you may have to do more selective pruning next year. Actually, it's better to prune a bit each year to control size and vigor than to do a drastic pruning, but they are pretty forgiving of pruning.

Glen

O.K. I drive past a couple apple orchards a few times a year and all of their trees appear to be less than 10 ' tall, with branches near the ground. I guess that's due to years of proper pruning?

This summer when we moved in the limbs of the tree that bore the most fruit were bending under the weight of apples to the point which 2 limbs broke. My uneducated thought was that somebody must have never pruned it and the limbs grew to long and thinly to support the weight.

This tree grew in partial sun by the way, we removed all trees around it and now it will have full sun for the first time in 20 years.

Sound like you two very politely told me I screwed it all up ;)

there is a fruit forum .. those peeps might not be as astounded as the tree peeps/.... who knows..

look .. who cares what others think ... it will either rebound or it wont.. and you are technically out nothing ...

i gave up on apples years ago .. because to get really good apples.. you need to spray them about every 2 or 3 weeks.. and with the kids.. i just didn't need those chemicals around ...

bottom line in the garden is ... do what pleases you .. the the heck with everyone else's opinion ...

good luck ... ken

harleysilo, you are correct about the annual pruning that goes on in orchards. It's a very important part of the yearly maintenance routine. Pruning is something of an art. There are proper places to make cuts on branches in order to get the response that you wish, for one thing. Also, making random cuts without a plan can cause a tree permanent damage.

Orchard trees are typically full-dwarf or semi-dwarf...but annual pruning is still required. Most of the trees purchased through catalogs or in nurseries for the last many years would be full- or semi-dwarf.

Taking too much off at once can be exceedingly stressful, too. The reasons are numerous, but one of them will be the tree's normal response to topping, which will be an excess of weakly attached growth right at the top. That might very well create just the right set of circumstances that will cause those two co-dominate branches to split right down the middle of the main tree trunk.

Truthfully, the tree has a flawed form (those co-dominate trunks) that is bound to split at some point. In an orchard, a tree like that would have been pruned to a single main trunk while still a tiny tree. Or, it would have been turned into kindling.

I agree with gardengal about pruning classes. Don't be surprised if your extension service offers something about fruit trees soon! It would surely be worth a phone call. Learning how to prune properly will utterly change your attitude about your woody shrubs and trees.

It will be interesting to see what happens with your tree this year. Don't feel bad about jumping in and making mistakes. The learning process, however, can be a fascinating journey.

Rhizo is right about the "stress" in a figurative sense.

You don't want to prune that severe again.

The future growth will be neither a rebound nor a reaction - its merely growth.

Tips of tree limbs and tops send a hormone downward in the tree which inhibits and supresses certain bud and shoot developement.

When tips or tops are removed, the chemical "factories" are gone, and when the hormone diminishes, sprouts will develop.

So new growth is not "forced" - in a way its the opposite. It has been unrestrained, in a loose sense of words.

Find someone locally, who can teach you how to develop watersprouts into flowering / fruit producing spurs.

Harleysilo, a nice local nursery that might help answer questions is Scottsdale Farms on Birmingham Hwy (just north of Crabapple).

I know exactly where that is, less the 5 miles from my house! Thanks!

Update, it's growing! Early this morning....
O.k, so the flowers are a good thing right?

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You have a busy sapsucker, I see! ;-)

Yeah on this apple and some strange oak type trees in the front yard, my dad said it wouldn't cause any harm, is he right?

Up dates...

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"Sound like you two very politely told me I screwed it all up ;)"

Well Harveysilo, we all make mistakes in gardening. When I mentioned that my tree got several vertical branches crowded at the top after I pruned it, it was because I basically "topped" the tree.

Interesting enough my tree's leafing out and the bottom older horizontal branches with fruiting spurs seems to be leafing out earlier than the top branches which are one year growth and vertical/upright. Only by a few days though. It could also be because there's a fence nearby and the bottom part of the tree is more sheltered. The good news is it looks like there will be more apples than last year. My variety is a hardy prairie one called "September ruby" so I look forward to fruit.

My tree is suppose to be a dwarf sized tree, though I incorrectly planted it too deeply where it started rooting along the trunk above the graft union so now I really have to trim annually to keep within bounds. That and the fact that my yard is small and I don't want the branches growing over into the neighbors yard. I debated if this tree ever gets too gnarled looking from being trimmed too much, I just may start over with a new tree.

Glen