Hello, My name is Mark, and I have some apple trees I planted this spring from bare root stock from my local county fruit tree sale. I planted them in buckets with holes in them as I was not certain as to where I wanted to plant them in my yard, And I have been very unsuccessful with apple trees in the past with deer and pests, So they are in a Chain linked fence.
I have been doing a lot of research, and have created more questions and hopefully someone can give me some more information
Id Ideally like to keep the trees around 10ft - 12 ft for easy harvesting/ maintenance ( I believe they are semi Dwarf)
A lot of the you tube pruning video demonstrations that I’ve watched, have apple trees that do not look like mine with the Strong central whip.
Is it to early to prune these trees?
A lot of the trees have 3-4 lower branches around 18-24 inches from the bucket, and then a 1ft to 2 foot main leader that runs to top sprouting whip.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to where to start?
I’m open to learning and understand that I am beginner.
I would wait on doing any pruning until early next Spring, just before the trees break from dormancy. I would also hold off on planting them until then or even in the Fall of this year.
Depending on what you’re going for, you may want to trim off any branches that are too low to the ground. Anything that will interfere with mowing around them or anything that will sag and touch the ground under the load of fruit should probably go. I think a lot of folks recommend the first set of scaffold branches around 30" or so from the ground.
There are a lot of different ways to go from there depending on how you want to grow the tree (central leader, open center, or a modified central leader). There are tons of threads on here from other folks asking about pruning. Just do a few searches in the search bar and I’m sure you can find them. They really helped me when I first started pruning.
I will also leave this video here (he has a few in this little series). He’s a member on this forum too I think. I found it really well done and easy to follow!
You can also check out this pruning guides thread from the guides tab on the website (tons of good stuff in there)
If you’re not sure you can keep them watered enough, you may want to prune them back a little shorter now, or at least put them in afternoon shade. Summer’s a good time for pruning for height. Stone fruit are more prone to fungal diseases, so whether you prune summer or winter, make sure it’s not rainy or foggy out.
It’s a good idea to wait until you have cooler weather and reasonable rain before planting them in ground. Trees need more water when they are newly planted than they will in the future.
I definitely think 18" is too low for the lowest branches, even on dwarf trees. I have a few I left at 24", but the lower they are the more likely they are to get damaged by a string trimmer, or damaged by fungal or scab spores coming up from the ground in wet weather.
Agree with waiting until next spring. One thing worth doing now though is picking off any fruit that sets this year, you want all the energy going into root establishment and structure rather than trying to ripen apples in a bucket. When you do prune next spring, pick your strongest central leader and remove anything competing with it. The scaffold branches will sort themselves out over the next couple of years once you’ve got a clear leader established.
