Apple tree 'pruning' worries.

[Glutton4...]

My dog-walking chum has a couple of apple trees in her garden. One, in particular (eater, I think), is very vigorous, and full of fruit. She has recently decided to take secateurs to it in order to let the sun get to the fruit. I asked her if she had 'g**gled' first, and she confessed that she hadn't, so I said perhaps she should check first.

Could she have done much damage? She likes to hack all sorts of things back in the spring, just when she feels like it, and I'm trying to steer her in the right direction, without curbing her new-found enthusiasm for gardening.

Thanks in advance!

[TrialAndError]

Depends if those apple trees have been tended by the lady in question for many years or if they are new to her. Clearly they are producing good fruit so previous pruning must have been done reasonably well.

Personally I wouldn't prune an apple tree at this time of year, even to let light get to the fruit. I'm not even sure that the fruit itself needs maximum light,the tree does, but the fruit .... However,if you've ever looked a apples on a tree, the side facing the sun does get riper / redder than the shade facing side.

Leave the pruning (aside from minor pruning) to winter when the tree is dormant is my advice.

[Glutton4...]

Yes, she has pruned them in this way for a few years. She's been there about ten years, I think, so certainly for the last three or four years, I would guess. She is worried that when left to its own devices, it tends to suffer broken limbs due to overloading. Personally, I think it needs thinning, as it is a very dense canopy, and from what I've read here and elsewhere, it should be kept more open.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, I will try and curb her enthusiasm until the tree is dormant, and steer her in the direction of g**gle, once again.

[Jeanied]

I have to confess I hacked back a big branch on my crab apple tree yesterday - it was arching over the garden and blocking light from other plants - there are lots of crab apples and other branches to compensate. I seem to remember from somewhere you can summer prune and winter prune.

[FB.]

If the pruning is to remove or shorten new greenish shoots which grew this season then it's basically like cordon/espalier summer pruning and shouldn't be a problem; it might actually make the tree more fruitful next year.

But pruning into woody shoots (last years growth or older) while the tree has leaves on will lead to problems eventually such as canker, woolly aphid colonies and - if the summer pruning involves the tree losing more than half its leaves - it could go into decline and die a few years later.

[Jeanied]

Ooops - will apply cinnamon to the cut and cross my fingers.

[FB.]

Ooops - will apply cinnamon to the cut and cross my fingers.

Fungal spores will undoubtedly have been blown on the wind and landed on the wound already. As for what type(s) of fungal spores landed on the wound is anyone's guess - maybe there aren't any cankered trees nearby, and even if some canker spores landed on the wound the conditions might not be right for them to germinate and infect.
At this time of year the air is as thick with fungal spores as it is with pollen; indeed I believe that some people who think they have hay fever actually have an allergy to certain fungal spores.

[Glutton4...]

... I believe that some people who think they have hay fever actually have an allergy to certain fungal spores.

Oh yes. I had a chronic dose one year - it was due to having my Horse stabled at one end of a large barn. The other end of the barn was stacked high with old hay bales. I moved yards, and my 'hayfever' vanished.

Thanks for your input, FB, I was hoping you'd pop along! She does prune new growth to shape in the spring, but then gets a little 'scissor-happy' in the summer. I have always suspected part of the excess fruiting is due to her interference. I'll have a chat with her.

I know you're busy with family things, so thanks again for responding - much appreciated!