I cut my trees in half

[Scarlet]

to answer all the extras, they were ordered end of march I think, arrived in April bare root (it didn't seem as moist as I thought it would be) and I planted them out the next day. Ah well, fingers crossed!

Who did you order from? I'm surprised that they had any bare root left, April is really the tail end of the bare root season.

[unclefudgly]

Well done to you. It must be terrifying to have to do that to your nice new trees, but you should be rewarded with trees that are going to be much more manageable in the future

[Lady BlackThumb]

Who did you order from? I'm surprised that they had any bare root left, April is really the tail end of the bare root season.

A site called Pomona fruits. I was surprised too, since all the other nursery sites had shut down orders until next season.... But I was impatient and wanted some instant gratification.

[It never rains..it pours]

I have a plum bareroot that was considering cutting back but advised not to by the masters on here. However im taking buds off from top down to hopefully force more into the lower ones then cut down in summer

[nickdub]

I have a plum bareroot that was considering cutting back but advised not to by the masters on here. However im taking buds off from top down to hopefully force more into the lower ones then cut down in summer

That's the approach I would suggest to anyone who wants a low crotch on their young tree.

Best to cut out the remaining vertical bit at the top that you don't want in July with a sharp knife or small saw BTW

[Scarlet]

A site called Pomona fruits. I was surprised too, since all the other nursery sites had shut down orders until next season.... But I was impatient and wanted some instant gratification.

Interesting - I've never heard of a Plant Nursery around here with that name and they have a Bath telephone code.

[Guest]

Interesting - I've never heard of a Plant Nursery around here with that name and they have a Bath telephone code.

I was gifted with some grapevines mail order from them. They were 2 months over their delivery due date and one was full of vine weevil. Being gifts I couldn't say anything. I know I will never use them.

[Nicos]

Sorry, I know this is a serious thread...but each time I read the title I have a vision of the magic trick where the magician is cutting his assistant in half

Am I the only one???

[Lady BlackThumb]

Sorry, I know this is a serious thread...but each time I read the title I have a vision of the magic trick where the magician is cutting his assistant in half

Am I the only one???

Lol in this case, I'm still waiting for my "assistant" to TADAAAAH into new shoot growth, right now it's still in the audience anticipation stage...

[veggiechicken]

Did you pay £35 for a Pluot tree and saw in in half within a week?
Sounds like a money vanishing trick!!

[Lady BlackThumb]

Did you pay £35 for a Pluot tree and saw in in half within a week?
Sounds like a money vanishing trick!!

Indeed I deed. Living life on the edge, burning that sweet money that I don't have. XD

[Snadger]

I would be frightened to cut any amount off a bare rooted tree. It's bad enough for the poor bare rooted specimen having to basically start again with new soil and root system, without someone coming along and decapitating it.

Hope everything turns out all right for you.

[Brack]

The other month I bought an apple from ashridge (ashmeads kernel on M26) and a £5 Victoria plum from b&m. The apple was sold as a 1 year maiden. It was over 6' tall when it arrived! I chopped it right back (no point in a dwarfing rootstock if the tree is already over head height), and am waiting for it to sprout/recover. I also lopped about 18" off the trunk of the plum as it was rather large too, but it already had a reasonable set of side branches.
The plum has blossom on some of the branches and its leaves are just beginning to come out. The apple is sulking but has buds. I gave a couple of my other apples fairly hefty pruning too (howgate wonder/M26 put in last year and bountiful/M27 put in 2 years ago). They're also slow to leaf out this year, the howgate wonder especially so. I was vicious to my self fertile Cox last year (removed bits with scab and reshaped it a bit - came pot grown from a local nursery, I suspect it'd been 'in stock' for a few years and it had a lot of spindly branches. It sulked last year, no blossom, few leaves, but is going great guns this year.
I can't claim that I know what I'm doing with this but it seems that hard pruning seems to knock the tree back a bit and make it slower to respond to springtime (the effect being more marked in younger trees than those a bit more established), but they come good in the end.

I'd give it another month or so.

[Lardman]

Hack away - what's the worst that can happen

[TrixC]

I’m surprised by the number of folk saying you shouldn’t cut new trees back this radically, given that’s the standard technique for many trained forms? For example if you’re training a tree as a fan or U cordon the first thing you need to do is to chop it right back to where you want it to branch (usually even more than half). It’s scary but necessary.