Prune or not to prune

General Fruit Growing
#1

So I transplanted 10 potted trees (4 pear, 2 mulberry, 2 peach, 2 apple) in late July / early August which I know is a terrible time, but these were my first trees and too anxious to get them in the ground. Most seem to be doing fine showing new growth (although my Golden Delicious is yellowing leaves now and has stunted growth) .

I’m the type of person who would still want an expert opinion, especially because this is my first crack at this and my soil type is clay-ish and compacted. So I called that firm who specializes in tree care and was told that the trees are all doing really well. So the representative also tells me not to prune them at all, except for dead or any diseased branches. The peach trees seem too busy in the center and would have pruned to air out this area. The apple trees are beginning to have crossing branches.

So what I’m trying to ask is if I should follow his advice or follow the advice of all the material that I find online, which says to prune around 1/3 of the tree in the winter.

#2

Hardest pruning of fruit trees is usually done at the time of transplanting, after they have recovered and are growing “all pruning is dwarfing” is the cliche, and it is generally correct. Peaches being trained to a goblet are often topped early (first or second year in the ground) with only 3 permanent branches allowed to grow, but there are many ways to skin a cat- the internet is full of clear guidance on training of peach trees but if you go to guides there’s some stuff I wrote on pruning theory that might be helpful.

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#3

My process for pruning…
1- Dead or diseased branches
2- crossing branches/ broken branches
3- branches that are too long or crowding other branches out

There are many variations to this but if you want to prune, its your tree and you should prune!

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