New home with old fruit trees, how to tackle

[Appletree318is]

Hi all, I'm Matt and my wife an I moved in to a new house in December 2015, the house has got one very large apple tree, a plumb tree and two pear trees in the garden all of which looked to have had some work in the past but look to have been neglected I'm the last 3 - 4 years.

Firstly the apple tree, the year we moved in there wear apples all over the ground under the tree thay had just been left we got around 5 heaped wheelbarrows full off the ground however this year I would be surprised if if we got enough to fill one.

Unfortunately I didn't get around to identifying it when it had spokeswoman and leaves in summer although might be able to find a picture or two somewhere, all I know is they are eating apples.

A friend suggested I would need to cut the tree back and since doing a little research, as I understand, for the amount I need to remove I would be better doing the work in summer however what I would be interested to know is is there anything I can do this time year to help this year's yield???

From some of the YouTube videos I've seen they suggest I could remove some branches from the middle of the tree, any branches that are rubbing, dead, or growing towards the middle of the tree. But best to leave the water sprouts at this time. Sound about right???




I have also noticed a number of large splits in the bows of the tree, any suggestions what these are and what I could do to prevent or help repair these splits.






I also have these pear trees, again after any advice as to what I might need to do to them at this time of year.



Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks Matt

[Zelenina]

I have a couple of old apple trees in my garden too, and they tend to only have a big crop every other year. And my biggest pear tree is the same. So you mightn't have to do any pruning to get them to crop well this year. Frost at blossom time can also cause low yield. I haven't done anything to my trees but as far as I know apples and pears can be pruned in winter, but plums only in the summer. I think there are also different methods of pruning apples depending on whether they are tip bearers or spur bearers, but you'd better wait for an expert to come along and put you right on that. It's probably better not to prune at all than to do it wrong.

[Guest]

Hi and welcome to the vine

The pear and apple can be pruned now on a fine day. Do the dead, diseased and damaged. I would then reduce the height and also look at weighing some of the branches down (more fruit is produced on angled branches). Do not remove more than a third of the tree as you may shock it and kill it.

[Appletree318is]

Thanks for the reply's

So I should be OK to remove some of the upwards growing waterspouts then?

One of the videos I watched suggested that if I removed the water sprouts at this time of year then when the tree came out of dormancy it would put a lot of effort into replacing the watrsprouts lost in winter and that I might actually end up with more waterspouts than I have now?

The video suggested that a better time to remove the water sprouts would be after the harvest and before dormancy as then the tree wouldn't have as much returning sap to the roots and there for wouldn't try and have a growth spurt after the period of dormancy.

There seams to be a lot of contradiction online which makes it confusing for a first timer like myself.

Thanks Matt

[Guest]

Winter pruning encourages growth - true. The aim is to encourage new growth which will become fruiting wood.

[Zelenina]

Here's some advice for you https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=279

[Appletree318is]

Thanks Zelenina, I have had a look on the RHS website but I hadn't found that page but lots of useful info on there.