[Lardman]

My apple tree.

Its a bit of a mess ! I cleaned up all the dead wood last winter but its didn't even produce 1 apple last year, which frankly for a 30ft tree is rather a poor show so its time for action.

I've youtube'd, googled and read and Im still not sure what to do,    everything seems to be geared around nice little 6ft trees, rather than the untidy monster I have.

Its a butt ugly shape so has no aesthetic value and no fruit either means its just a waste of space, Id like fruit but I can wait a few years if thats what it will take to bring the tree under control.

Thoughts? Im leaning towards a drastic prune back to 12ft and then deal with the watershoots.

[sunshineband]

If it was me, I'd do this over tow or three years.

Take out any rotten or dead wood, and then reduce the remaining branches to about 1.5m, and prune to encourage fruiting spurs. BUT not all at once.

This is a good time in the year to do it. Summer prune any new growth on your rejuvenated half, to deal with any water shoots and again encourage fruiting buds to swell. Then at th end of next winter begin work on the other half.

Give it a good feed too about now.

Hope that helps a bit 

[Lardman]

I removed all the dead last winter and cut back a lot of the messy branches lower down. I did lose my bottle on cutting the larger branches out though.

Today I've taken out some of the larger newer growth in the middle, I'm still not 100% on how to deal with the main 2 branches Id like to cut the larger one out at 20ft but getting that high is proving a problem.

The old bloke next door - Who I think is responsible for its current state - thinks I should just cut it at trunk level. He also tells me it was a mature tree when he moved in 40 years ago, so I have no idea how old it is.

Give it a good feed too about now.

Any suggestions on what and how ?

[madcat]

I feed ours after pruning with bonemeal on the soil and then a good mulch of compost off the heap on top of it on what is supposed to be a nice round bed at the base.  The theory being that it is easier to mow to an edge and the tree doesn't get the competition from the grass, but I'm not sure I buy it.  But it does make it easier to mulch.

I'm not sure I would cut it at trunk level ...  it would take so long to get back to fruiting you may as well remove it and put in a new tree.  But it sounds like you are heading towards the bowl shape the books recommend.

[Lardman]

Nice round bed ... on that slope no chance  and we'll just ignore the pile of rubbish around the base   

I'll get some bonemeal next time Im out then - thought there might be something special for apple trees.

Its very difficult to get a bowl shape with only 2 branches, not help by some muppet having a fire under the left hand side burning most of the canopy away there. 

[madcat]

Ooops!   

Mulching does help with the weeds round the base too - but the blackbird throws it EVERYWHERE!!!  so i'm really not sure I'm with that theory.  But the bone meal is slow release - I must admit I chuck it under a lot of my shrubs that aren't going to get any other TLC, ideally just before it rains to damp it down and wash it in a bit.  Which is very effective at getting the rain clouds to go away ....  that fella murphy's law again.   

[sunshineband]

I feed our trees with rose fertiliser once a year (about now) and a good helping of compost from the bin too 

[DavidT]

All bonemeal does is improve root growth, Feed with a high potash fertilizer if you want to encourage flowering and fruiting. What`s the variety, by the way, and how has it cropped in previous years?

[Lardman]

All bonemeal does is improve root growth, Feed with a high potash fertilizer if you want to encourage flowering and fruiting. What`s the variety, by the way, and how has it cropped in previous years?

Id rather it put its energy into regrowing properly rather than fruiting at the moment. I think its a cox's orange but I can't say for sure.

Last year there was nothing at all. The year before about a bucket full of small 2-3" fruit. 

I know I should really call an expert but its just not in the budget.

[Trillium]

To bring it under control and into fruiting you need to cut off some of the top header branches, which will make it shorter and accessible to begin with and concentrate on getting remaining branches pointing towards sides, which encourages fruiting spurs. Some folk weigh down branches with jugs of water or bricks tied on, the pros wedge pieces of wood to force the turn. And feeding the tree definitely helps; I pile lots of manure around every tree every fall. Can be done in spring if you have rotted manure. The jump in production is surprising.