Pruning of Container Grown Dwarf Patio Apple Trees

[Artisan]

I have just had delivered of two dwarf patio apple trees to be grown in containers. One is a Braeburn and the other is a Gala. At the moment the trees are a bit lanky and have suffered a little from their journey. I am letting them have a few days to recover before planting them in their containers. My question is once I have planted them how long should be left before I prune them? Can they be pruned straight away to start getting some shape to them or should they be left until they are dormant? The trees which are around 3ft tall are lanky with leaf growth mainly at the tips of the branches. How much should I prune back to start to get a half standard tree which will be eventually 4-5ft tall?


If it helps to be able to get some advice on pruning I can take some pictures and upload them. Please let me know.

[BUFFS]

I would prune now as there is plenty of potential growing time left this year, so why waste it. Without seeing any photos I would trim back each branch to three to four buds and place it in a light shade while it decides to push out new side shoots, make sure you have it in john Innes No3 compost, essential as it will be the plants home for a few years to come, give it a feed, I use BFB as you know what's in it, when it has started to shoot, put it back in the sun and never let it dry completely out. You need to pinch out the growing stems when they have three leaves on them and these will then start pushing out side shoots. That's it really until the end of Feb when it will be time to give a handful of BFB again and continue training the branches, in the following year you should have a strong branch structure to support any fruit so you can let the flowers turn into fruit with the tree ready to produce for years....good luck with it, if you make a mistake, do t worry, it will grow back given time..

[nickdub]

Before you start pruning consider tying any lanky growth back round in loops by knotting some string near the tips and gently bending this end back to tie in lower down the trunk. This will both help the rest of the tree by balancing out how it grows, and the festooning will cause fruit spurs to develop along the bent wood.

Unless some bits look diseased, I'd leave any pruning until the leaves have fallen in the winter.

A photo would help, if you'd like more detailed advice.

[Artisan]

Pruning of Container Grown Dwarf Patio Apple Trees

Hello BUFFS. With regards to the prune of the two new dwarf apple trees I have taken some pictures for you to see. Perhaps from viewing the photographs you could give me some idea of which bits to remove with a view to start a nice half standard tree shape. The trees are around 5ft including their containers and were planted yesterday.

Please have a look at the pictures and let me know what you think.

[BUFFS]

Hello BUFFS. With regards to the prune of the two new dwarf apple trees I have taken some pictures for you to see. Perhaps from viewing the photographs you could give me some idea of which bits to remove with a view to start a nice half standard tree shape. The trees are around 5ft including their containers and were planted yesterday.

Please have a look at the pictures and let me know what you think.

Looking at them I would just pinch out the growing tips to encourage side shoots, those are really just whips, so it will take two years of pinching out to grow a branch structure strong enough to carry a full crop of fruit and to crop on the third year. This was advised to me by FB some years ago and I followed it to the letter and it was the best thing I did with fruit, my trees now have a good shape and crop really well and that is what you need to do, it will give you years of cropping from a bit of initial attention..

[Artisan]

Hello BUFFS. Thank you for your valuable advice. I will start the process later today.

Thanks again.