Pruning
Pruning is about the most controversial and misunderstood aspect of fruit tree culture. Even people who've never grown an apple may have strong opinions about it. Often the answer to "why are you pruning your apple tree?" is "because it's winter". Orchardists have very defined aims when they prune - to establish a strong frame-work: thin out secondary growth, let in more light, reduce fruiting spurs, thin out or bend vertical branches (which grow leaves) and encourage horizontal branches (which produce fruit). Before you reach for the secateurs next time, ask yourself "why am I doing this?"

Summer Pruning. With dwarfing fruit trees, the time to prune is in summer as the fruit set. It's easy if you are growing them on espaliers: prune off the tall vertical shoots leaving a stub of 2-3 buds. Keep one shoot close to the main stem of the tree if needing to step up to the next wire, or the outermost shoot to bend down to the existing wire level thus extending the width of the tree. One doesn't have to be completely strict with cutting back to the horizontal branch, sometimes allowing some short branches coming from these is good too. The rational is that vertical shoots produce leaves, while horizontal ones tend to produce fruit. By cutting away the tall new growth, you keep the shape of the espalier, allow light to fall onto developing fruit, encourages more flower buds to develop, prevents large root systems and encourages a fuiting cycle. See the photos below sections for examples.

Look at this slide-show: click on left image, then press "n" for next, "p" for previous and "c" to close.

After gently pruning the excess growth away, thin the apples to reduce the congestion. Where there are four or five in a cluster and you can see that they are pressing on each other, twist the unripe fruit (choose the blemished ones) off leaving 2-3. This gives the others room to grow, but don't overdo it!

See the article on Summer Pruning, and our section on espaliering.

Other articles on pruning: see Bob's Articles