I think I know the answer, but I want to make sure as this applies to nearly all of the apples i just planted. My order from fedco looks great. I just am not sure what to do about the competing leaders on most of them with narrow crotch angles. Lop them off now, next year or try limb spreaders. They almost all look like these two trees. They are on m111 and b118 and I want a central leader. I’m mostly hesitant because 2 years ago, I took off a very sizeable branch like this from a newly planted tree, and it was the only one that died that spring. Maybe I cut too close or something.
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Why is it bad to have 2 central leaders. if 1 is killed by #%^& you still have another. I run into this same problem every tree so I thought I would let both grow.
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If you are able to reasonably protect it (that cage looks like it will do the trick) I’d say having one is better because the tree isn’t expending resources making branches you’ll get rid of later anyway. I’m not saying you are wrong at all, hedging bets absolutely makes sense, just offering a different perspective.
Plus if the leader gets yanked, some other bud will eventually take over.
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Without hesitation i would get rid of one.
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The idea is airflow too thru the canopy & more sunshine and single leader trees that are pruned for spur production at their side branches are the way to go, usually.
Branches next to each other (double leaders) often cause bark inclusions which is detrimental in a tree’s demise.
Often open center fruit trees break apart if scaffolds aren’t property set into place due to inclusions.
So, there’s a number of different ways to grow/train a single-trunk-tree to induce spurring/fruit and controlling size/shape, fruit size from thinning, and more.
Vertical axis apples and pears are the easiest to shape because a lot of the tree is allowed to grow naturally while pruning is much less than compared to other shapes.
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You have a great looking tree…choose one and get rid of the other one. Make sure you look closely at where each of the 2 leaders join the trunk of the tree. Choose the one that looks stronger even if it is not quite as vertical as the other one.
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The narrow crotch will allow bark inclusion as the two grow. Later as those begin to bear weight from the structure of the tree and developing fruit (snow, freezing rain), that bark inclusion can cause a weak point where one or both of the limbs/leaders can break.
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From this link:
You keep the most 90 degree branches on your tree and train others that way (or close to 90 degrees)
And the ends are sent into spurring production.
Single leader trees (especially pears vs. apples) can outlive other forms/shapes hundreds of years, but especially pears.
Martin Crawford, ‘Directory of Pear Cultivars’
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If the 2 leaders of left, they will naturally want to grow as tall as quickly as possible, to establish apical dominance over the other branches of the tree. This will cause the tree to become very tall, very quickly, and fruit spurs will not want to form. These 2 leaders will essentially use all the available nutrients for vegetative growth, rather than set up the tree for fruiting.
My advice would to be to cut 1 of them off and leave the 2nd.
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Or pick 4 longest branches and train as espalier! You already have 2 lateral rows. Let 1 bud grow from top crotch to reach 3rd row and pinch to encourage laterals. I grow mostly espaliers and I’m always on the lookout for a new tree pruned to this shape. Granted, it’s not how to train espaliers -instead each row is grown out before next row Is encouraged- but, by chance, you have a pretty good espalier framework. Downside- needs to be permanently protected from deer.
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Thanks, everyone. Lots of good advice. I’ll get my trees pruned with one leader rather than waiting. I thought that was the way to go, just had a hard time convincing myself to cut such big branches off all these little trees I just planted. But it makes more sense to do it now rather than later. I’ll just be careful with my cuts.
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Better to cut off more on a young tree than not enough