[Jamie Butterworth]

I pruned my grandmas apple tree plast year as it hadnt been pruned in god knows how long, and consequently had the best crop of apples the tree had ever produced, but that was mainly me using guess work, this year i would like to do it properly, hopefully tomorow, can anybody offer any advice please?

P.S. The tree is well established and other 20/30 years old if that information is of any use

[solway cropper]

I inherited some mature neglected apple trees when we moved here and my approach was to remove all congested/crossing branches and just allow more light and air through the tree. It seemed to work and in subsequent years I've just tried to keep them in shape by light pruning.

[fatcat1955]

Start by cutting out any dieseased/ crossing branches then cut back to an outward facing bud any branches that are too long then open up the middle to allow air and light in. You are trying to achieve a wine glass shape.

[Kleftiwallah]

Any tools used must be clean and super sharp.

(1)   Remove dead. dying or diseased branches.

(2)  Remove any branches that are rubbing others (giving disease a way into the tree).

(3)  Remove Spindly or weak branches with the aim of opening out the centre of the tree to allow air movement.

Easy Peasy......Cheers,  Tony

[Jamie Butterworth]

Thanks for the advice everyone

[Yorkie]

RHS advice here

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=90

[Chuffy]

Sounds like you've already done the right thing, if it's cropping well.

+1 to what the other posters have said with the additional advice that you shouldn't take out too much wood in a single year or you'll shock the tree. Pruning a badly neglected tree can be a three year process.

Also - check out the videos that this chap posts on You Tube. Very helpful - we managed to bring our trees back from a pretty poor state with the help of his tutorials.

[Jamie Butterworth]

RHS advice here

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=90

Thanks for the link yorkie

Sounds like you've already done the right thing, if it's cropping well.

+1 to what the other posters have said with the additional advice that you shouldn't take out too much wood in a single year or you'll shock the tree. Pruning a badly neglected tree can be a three year process.

Also - check out the videos that this chap posts on You Tube. Very helpful - we managed to bring our trees back from a pretty poor state with the help of his tutorials.

Thanks for the advice, i wont be taking too much off, just a light prune as i did chop a fair bit off last year ::S