Help Scalped fruit trees

[joannesdogs]

Hi

Early this year my partner in an attempt to help, pruned? my mature apple and plum trees, unfortunately what he did was cut all of the branches to about 12-18 inches of the main trunk. They have started to shoot and have about 6 inches of green growth.

Anyone help me on the best way forward for these trees

Thanks
Joannesdogs

[Two_Sheds]

Get rid of the OH?

[rustylady]

Oh dear, are you still together? I have a Victoria Plum tree that did eventually recover from this sort of treatment. I would just leave the trees and see what happens.

[northepaul]

Maybe buy some new trees??

[endymion]

They have started to shoot and have about 6 inches of green growth

I'd be inclined to do "winter pruning" of the new growth, and see what happens. Here's how Apples and pears: winter pruning / Royal Horticultural Society

Then, in the summer, do the "summer pruning" too.

Here's what they suggest for plums Plums: pruning / Royal Horticultural Society

You might end up with a much more manageable trees.

Fingers crossed it'll work.

[VirginVegGrower]

I would prune him, stand him in the cold and see how he likes it

[FB.]

What he did was naughty. He hacked the life out of them at peak season which is a technique which should only be used to control fast-growing and unfruitful trees (and even then, it needs to be done in the right way at the right time). The trees will struggle to build a winter energy reserve because of leaf loss causing inability to gather the summer sun.

Old trees don't tolerate such strees too well and can go into decline - or gradually die - after such a shock, although some varieties/rootstocks cope better than others.
Often the large pruning wounds left by removing large branches never heal properly and become a point of entry for rots, which eventually hollow-out the tree and cause the branches or trunk to become structurally weak and break - and the tree to die (although some old trees will root-in where they fall). Any wound of 5cm (2 inches) or more on an old tree may never heal properly and can start the rot of the inner wood.

I suggest keep the OH away from the trees until you have educated him on what to prune and when to prune.

In the meantime, some "full view" pictures of the tree would be helpful to see what has been done, how the tree responded and what might be the best path forward.

I imagine that the new shoots have grown in dense clusters at the point of the pruning cuts and now look like witches brooms.
With the apple, wait until all the leaves have fallen (some time between December-February) and then select a handful of well-placed and well-spaced-out new shoots at each of the previous pruning cuts to retain as new branches. Lightly "tip" those by removing only an inch or two of their new growth.
The remaining dense twiggy clusters of un-needed shoots should be cut out completely so as not to compete with the best shoots already chosen.

The plum can have the same pruning as the apple, but it needs to be done as winter gives way to spring, as the buds begin to swell. This is likely to be February-April, depending on how quickly spring arrives.

It will take a few years - and annual pruning - to get them back to a nice shape. Failure to pay attention to "formative" pruning in the next few years will only lead back to the same old problem of poorly shaped, out-of-control trees and unproductive trees.
Pruning a little each year is generally best (although some years may not need any pruning), with either heading cuts (cut off the tip of a shoot, generating a few new side branches at the point of the cut and invigorating growth) or with thinning cuts (removal of dense side branches to prevent crowding, prevent broken branches and prevent awkward branch angles which may encourage disease due to the tight angle between them and the accumulation of damp in a tight/shady "crotch".
Pruning in mid July of the new shoots is a way to de-vigorate a tree which is gowing too strongly, because you are taking away its leaves ("solar panels") in peak summer).

As mentioned earlier: it is best not to have pruning cuts more than a couple of inches across unless absolutely necessary, because it risks the inner wood rotting.
Rather than undertake major surgery on a middle-old age tree, it is best to anticipate a potentially troublesome branch in the younger years and deal with it at a time when the tree is both vigorous (hence the wound will heal fast) and when the wound caused by branch removal will be as small as possible and therefore heal as quickly as possible, reducing the risk of rots entering the heartwood of the tree.

[Two_Sheds]

^ he's good isn't he?

[VirginVegGrower]

Very good!

[zazen999]

hmm, nice.