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Apple Tree Pruning
pnwalsh
Posts: 22
in Fruit & veg
I planted two bare root year old apple trees in my garden in March and they seem to have taken well and are flowering nicely. I have only just realised that I should have pruned them from their height of 1.5m to around 900mm at the time of planting to encourage side shoots. Should I leave them be now they are in flower and prune in the Autumn or would it be safe to prune the main stem now?
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Thanks for the advice Pansyface, sounds good. I suppose I should have done my homework at the time but hopefully no harm done. Yes they did arrive around 8 weeks after I ordered them and Keepers kept saying it was due to frosts but we had a pretty mild winter didn't we? The two apple trees looked more like long walking sticks than trees but I now know these are called un-feathered maidens...as a novice I was expecting nice bushy specimens! I also got two plum trees from them which were feathered (with side shoots) and all 4 trees seem to be doing well.
Did exactly the same thing, got it planted it and didn't realise I had to chop the head off. I chopped it two weeks ago and the new buds are just breaking out now. So it's all good.
We're in Kent in a warm garden so probably ahead of many places. I think you might be alright to chop it.
Seems brutal cutting a newly planted tree back so hard but I know now it has to be done. I'm quite high on the Pennines in East Lancashire so I think I have missed the window for that first hard prune, I don't want to shock the tree. I've chosen a Katy and Discovery which are two quite hardy apples for exposed sites. I think I will wait until about November or December to be on the safe side but thank you Michael.
if you prune in august then you'll get side shoots that will flower next year, cut any new growth back to 4 leaves and remove anything that is crossing, damaged or sick looking.