[frazzy]

can you take the tops off 3 year old apple trees and if i do will i still get a decent crop of apples or will his be detrimental to their future development

[gobs]

Pruning is quite often a way of increasing fruiting so it should not have a bad effect on  the tree's development. Apples are regularly pruned.

However, a three year old tree is young, what do you mean by topping(how much) and why do you need to do that?

Important to know with apples if they are spur-bearers(common) or tip bearers. In the first case you do not want to lose many old branches, these will carry the fruit.

[splodger]

are you training the trees?

i don't normally prune apples until the new year

correct pruning of young trees is important - and helps with the growth

if you are training a new tree - you can select laterals that you want to form as branches - vigorous laterals can be cut down by a third - less vigorous by half and weak growth by two thirds

if you want anymore info on pruning - just ask  

[WG.]

I thought you might find this thread splodger  

[splodger]

I thought you might find this thread splodger  

i don't know what you mean      

[frazzy]

i just wanted to make sure the trees didn't get so big that i needed a ladder to pick the apples at the moment they have quite a few lower branches and by removing the tips and i mean literally the tips i was hoping i would still get a decent crop and still have easy access to the fruits maybe i should leave them for a couple more years then .
sorry to be such a divvy but i know nothing about fruit trees .

[gobs]

How big are they? Are you getting any fruit? What's the crop? Have they been previously shaped? Are you sure of age?

Any clue as to varieties or rootstock?

Blimey, all those questions.

[splodger]

apples normally need regular pruning and it does matter what variety - as the pruning requirements do vary

but they are also quite forgiving - so they will normally recover if you make a mistake

apples also benefit from winter and summer pruning - and each discipline is quite different

try and find out the variety - and we might know what is best for your tree

[frazzy]

they are about 7-8 feet tall i have James grieves golden delicious and another one i cant find the label to . no idea what root stock they are on i bought them from a nursery 2 years ago and presumed that they must be a year or 2 already as they already had a few branches .
i did get a good 20 or so golden delicious apples this year and about 3 James grieve the other tree had 2 tiny applets on but they fell off early .

[gobs]

Golden delicous is a good easy apple, which is a spear bearer and has got a natural spreading habit(which I suspected from your previous description) , suited to a few varieties of pruning regimes(I guess you haven't done much to it in this respect) but albight can come on any rootstock if my memory does not fail me.

It seems reasonably big and well fruiting for its age, so I would personally be tempted to say (especially as you said you do not know much about this) if it ain't bad don't fix it. It will be a spreading tree with some upward growth which you can ignore if not up for the ladder and leave to blackbirds or set some younger volunteers on or wait to fall and make cider, brandy or sauce, puree(freezes well). You could adopt to only prune dead, sick diseased, over crowded growth out.

The other tree is not doing well, though. Not much a clue. But you wait for more experienced Splodger, what she thinks.

[splodger]

i'll try and explain in detail for you - but as it's complex (and difficult to write) i'll just do your james grieve - which produces fruit on short spurs

to encourage good growth - you can prune your laterals in winter - to 3 or 4 buds

once your tree is established you are ready to use a pruning technique which is referred to as the renewal system and is aimed at encouraging new growth each year - to replace what has already borne fruit

it's a long process in fact and you have to be patient - and i'll try to explain in more detail.

year 1 - a growth bud sends out a shoot
year 2 - the shoot produces fruit buds
year 3 - fruit buds form spurs and bear fruit - and will continue to bear fruit from these spurs

however in the 2nd year - the shoot not only produces fruit buds - it makes tip growth too - so it is a 2 year old shoot with 1 years new growth

equally - in year 3 - you will have 2 year old and 1 year old growth on your shoots - with the renewal system you cut back your 2 and 3 year old shoots - which stops overcrowding and should improve cropping and fruit quality

you have to decide the shape and balance of the tree - ie growth v fruit

try not to let your tree to become overcrowded with branches or overburdened with fruit - that's where the art of pruning comes into it's own

try and keep 1 year old growth that comes from your main branches as this will be part of the renewal system in a few years time  

i hope that this makes sense to you - pruning is all about balance - you are telling the plant what to do when you cut a bit off - you are telling it to produce better growth or more fruit - or for perfect balance more/less fruit on strong growth

[iannp]

in my experiance, there is no point having fruit where you cant reach it!! if it's too tall then cut it back...thats what we did commercialy, having it grow tall and fruit you can't reach is a waste of the trees energy, if the tree is on the week side it may be just what is needed, on the other hand if it is strong growing you can actually crack the top over and let it hang for the year...if done correctly this will repair itself without throwing loads of new growth at the top, with the james grieves, i have seen them in orchards tied at the tops to slow them down, in an arch effect......thing is no two people will do the same thing when it comes to pruning.  if you can it's a good idea to get someone to show you in the flesh....good luck

[frazzy]

thanks every body  i really appreciate the help