Should you thin an apple tree at all? ( lemmy.world )

Getting mixed opinions on my Google-fu, some say to give the tree only a few spots to grow, others say to leave them. So what’s Lemmys opinion? Thin at all? If it’s clustered leave one per cluster?

I have two, they are mixed species trees from HD, there’s September ruby red, battleford and good land apples.

Taniwha420 , (edited )

Always prune off dead, damaged, and diseased wood. Start there. Then prune stray and inward-facing branches. By stray I mean any stupid growth, like a little twig growing out of the trunk 8" from the ground. As for the inward-facing stuff, you don't want a thicket of interlacing branches in the middle of the tree. Prune most of it out. Also prune out anything that's growing very vertically through other branches.

That's bare maintenance. After that you're pruning for form for the kind of tree it is and the kind of tree you want.

From the photo it looks like you mostly need to clear out some of the inward-facing branches. (EDIT: nevermind, it's too hard to tell from your picture.)

The maintenance prune would probably be fine, but I wouldn't do a hard prune at this time of year. Traditionally, you do your hard pruning during the dormant season, but there's starting to be more advice that a mid-Summer prune is also good.

I think the reason Google isn't helping is because the pruning advice very much depends on the age of the apple, what your goal is, and what kind of apple it is.

rbn ,

I planted an apple tree four years ago. I've never cut a single branch so far. In the meantime, it is around 3-4 meters tall with lots of branches and leaves. But so far there was just a single apple on it and that went bad before it ripened. I love the tree for its looks but in terms of harvesting it's not necessarily what I'd call a success story. :')

SchmidtGenetics OP ,

Ah I didn’t mean pruning, I meant removing some potential apples, I’ve read lots of different opinions, from removing all the flowers the first year to promote growth even.

These I got about 6 apples last year when I didn’t do anything, but that was year two, didn’t get any the year I planted it. I’ve already seen a couple dozen potential apples on this one tree alone already. Excited!

Mouselemming ,

I can't do apples in my zone but with my dwarf eureka lemon tree I've learned to leave the most-developed little fruit or two in a cluster, pinching away the smallest ones to prevent crowding and avoid overburdening the branch.

Death_Equity ,

If your goal is more fruit, leave it alone. If you want bigger fruit, thin.

So if you are looking to make cider, you want quantity and would not thin. If you want big juicy apples to attack with your face like a fructose vampire, thin.

How much you thin comes down to how you want to balance quantity and quality.

SchmidtGenetics OP ,

Makes perfect sense, what about individual branch support? Just use some stakes if it starts getting too saggy? Is any of my apple ms better to do one way or the other?

I’ve got two, maybe I’ll do one each way and see how it goes!

Death_Equity ,

You can do supports different ways, stakes are popular, but you can also use rope to bind back to the base of another branch or two. You can also let nature take it's course and let the strong limbs get stronger while the weak limbs break away and more energy gets allocated to the rest of the fruit.

You would have to look at the characteristics of the variety and decide which way is better for what you are going for.

SchmidtGenetics OP ,

Thanks growmie!

Yep totally will, figured maybe you may have known off hand, cheers!

grrgyle ,
@grrgyle@slrpnk.net avatar

big juicy apples to attack with your face like a fructose vampire

Finally, a name for what kind of animal I am

Death_Equity ,

I should not be able to corner a lone watermelon without witnesses, the animalistic need to feed upon her juicy flesh consumes me, as much I do her. Don't get me wrong, a sour granny with mottled skin is a delight, but the soft flesh of the big juicy melons satiates my being like no other.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • random
  • gardening@lemmy.world
  • test
  • worldmews
  • mews
  • All magazines
    •