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Can I cut back this crab apple tree by myself?

sabeehasabeeha Posts: 344
in Problem solving
Hello!

I currently have this overgrown crab apple tree in my garden.  I’ve ignored it for a few years; always missing the best time to prune it!

I know it is probably the wrong time to prune it but it is really taking the garden.

It has long thick branches which near the end, have grown a few further thick branches. I can’t figure out where to prune it!  It certainly is not in the best place so it will always need to be controlled somehow.

Can anyone advise me? I would like to do this myself to save money!

Thank you


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  • sabeehasabeeha Posts: 344

  • sabeehasabeeha Posts: 344


    This photo shows one branch branching out near the tip
  • sabeehasabeeha Posts: 344
    Thank you for your reply :) the mop headed monster comment did make me laugh, I hate that look of pollarded trees which grow lots of shoots upwards!

    I guess it bothers me mainly because it takes over most of the width of the lawn in our garden (which is long and thin) and the branches look like they are a little too overburdened with the weight of the crab apples.  I haven’t been so attentive as the birds are happy (once saw a parakeet)… and then winter comes and it looks bare and doesn’t have much presence so I don’t notice it!

    Thank you for your advice :)
  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    With all fruit trees pruning now helps restrict growth , winter pruning tends to stimulate it
     I  agree with  @pansyface you may have to do this over several seasons to get the size and shape you want . You may have to sacrifice some flower and fruit for a few seasons to get the structure right. Take your time step back regularly to assess the overall shape.
    AB Still learning

  • sabeehasabeeha Posts: 344
    Thank you @Allotment Boy 
    Will try to be patient 🙂
  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    edited July 2022
    Our old crab apple was far more overgrown than that.  We've been in the house 34 years and it's never been touched in all that time.  We got a tree surgeon to look at it and recommend what to do.  He showed me the various places it had been cut back in the past and the directions it had grown as a consequence.  What we basically had was half a tree of mistletoe and half a very high canopy with nothing below or inside it.  He did say it would look drastic after the work, but would pay dividends.  See what you think.  The tree was over 20 feet across and almost as high.
    Before and after photos.  Sorry but no idea how to rotate them.


  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    The 'stump' is the after.  It's only been done about a month.
  • sabeehasabeeha Posts: 344
    @KT53 I understand the reasoning for the chop… it looked good but very dense and I guess it would get more denser and larger if you left it… I am sure it will look even better than before in a couple of years! 
  • sabeehasabeeha Posts: 344
    @pansyface how “pollarded” does it have to be for water shoots to grow? 
  • sabeehasabeeha Posts: 344
    Ok I’m just looking at photos on Google… obviously need to learn more… 
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