Has my husband killed the apple trees ?

[scooby-bloo]

Hi all,
I think it was last Oct/Nov my husband went outside to "prune" the two big old apple trees we have (had) in our garden, I should have known better than leave him unsupervised but I thought he is safe with pruning as he have done it before ? I went outside about an hour later and was horrified.. There was nothing left but the main trunk and a few branches that had also been cut back too hard. I was furious at the time and I still am livid as the tree itself is a really lovely shape, nothing has appeared yet, is it likely they will ever recover from what he's done ?
thanks Julie

[Alice]

What a shame Scooby Bloo. I don't think the trees will have been killed but doubt if they will ever be the same again. I think all you can do now is wait and see. I hope they can grow back into something useful for you.

[Capsid]

They should be OK, but don't expect any apples for a few years. The apples form on spurs so these need to be promoted by careful pruning. If too much pruning is done then the tree has to recover by putting on more leaf rather than fruit.

[FB.]

They will probably recover, but it will take a few years and they may need further heavy pruning to control the large number of crowded shoots that they will send up in response. They probably won't fruit at all for a few years, since only older (unpruned) wood will produce fruiting spurs.
Removing more than 25-35% of a mature trees mass is asking for trouble.
If the trees were very old, they might not recover. I would be especially concerned about the number and size of wounds that may get infected. Big wounds sometimes never manage to heal properly.
At least the pruning was done while they were dormant. The bulk of their energy will have been taken down into the roots for the winter and the wounds will have had some time to dry up before the fungal attacks start again in the spring.

My apples aren't showing many signs of life yet. They aren't due to come out of dormancy until April-May, so there's plenty of time.
Your trees may have been cut back so hard that there are no buds to re-grow. Therefore, before they can open any buds, they have to create some buds, which may delay their growth by a few weeks.

If no signs of life by early May, start getting concerned.
If no signs of life by early June, get very concerned.
If no signs of life by early July, they're probably dead.

I think that they will come back - eventually.

[scooby-bloo]

Firstly I am so sorry for not replying sooner, I thought I had turned on the " let me know when a reply is posted" but I didn't get informed.. Thanks so much for your replies, I really appreciate your advice. They are both old trees and the main trunk on one going up has real character, all twisty and very attractive so I will keep my fingers crossed, one is an eater and the other a cooking one..
Would it be a good idea to spray what is left with something, FB mentioned fungal attacks in spring, if so what might be best.. I'll take a pic of them later today and show you, well thats if I can load up the pics on here.. Is it the same as most forums.. photobucket 1st etc, thanks again.