Too late to prune?

[Fruitz]

I have a young apple and cherry tree that i want to cut down from about 110cm stem to 60-80cm, is it too late in the year to do this? I want them to grow fast and it annoys me to see the growth focused mostly on the top shoots which I will have to cut down along with the stem in the winter anyway if i can't do it now. They don't have any branches yet, just shoots and i want to train them as bush trees.

Thanks in advance.

[nickdub]

The apple can be done now. It will suffer a bit of a set-back to growth, but new shots should break out no problem. If you want to control the strength of these shoots you might want to google "nicking and notching for fruit trees".

I would leave the pruning of the cherry until late June or July. In the mean time it would do no harm to pinch out the ends of new shoots with your finger and thumb, in order to encourage shoots further down the trunk to break.

[Fruitz]

The apple can be done now. It will suffer a bit of a set-back to growth, but new shots should break out no problem. If you want to control the strength of these shoots you might want to google "nicking and notching for fruit trees".

I would leave the pruning of the cherry until late June or July. In the mean time it would do no harm to pinch out the ends of new shoots with your finger and thumb, in order to encourage shoots further down the trunk to break.

Appreciate the quick reply. I learnt 2 thing's from your post that i probably wouldn't have otherwise, removing new shoots to encourage the growth of others and nicking and notching (I'd have to do quite a bit of research on the latter before i attempt to do it myself due to being a complete novice).

Just to make sure we're on the same page regarding what i want to do i will add pictures of the trees

Cherry



Apple



The red line marks (approximately) where i want to cut the main stem down to. Is it a good idea to go ahead with this? I know such heavy pruning is usually done in the colder months but up until a few days ago i knew virtually nothing about pruning trees and the weather is quite hot now down in London.

[nickdub]

You're welcome - as I said, the apple now, the cherry in 6 to 10 weeks time ( the reason is disease risk) - your trees look very good and healthy, so should be no problem.

A lot of the advice in books is taken from older ones which in turn were often aimed at commercial nurserymen or head gardeners on large estates - most of it is still good, but the timing of jobs was often more to do with what fitted in with other work which would tend to pile up, if some of it wasn't done in the winter months etc

nicking is dine with a sharp knife above a dormant bud which you want to grow - a small piece of bark say 5mm long is removed . notching is similar but done below a strong shoot to calm it down a bit and sometimes in the hope of generating a fruiting spur.

try this for a video introduction :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXdexMgFobA

[Fruitz]

You're welcome - as I said, the apple now, the cherry in 6 to 10 weeks time ( the reason is disease risk) - your trees look very good and healthy, so should be no problem.

A lot of the advice in books is taken from older ones which in turn were often aimed at commercial nurserymen or head gardeners on large estates - most of it is still good, but the timing of jobs was often more to do with what fitted in with other work which would tend to pile up, if some of it wasn't done in the winter months etc

nicking is dine with a sharp knife above a dormant bud which you want to grow - a small piece of bark say 5mm long is removed . notching is similar but done below a strong shoot to calm it down a bit and sometimes in the hope of generating a fruiting spur.

try this for a video introduction :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXdexMgFobA

I've had another look at the cherry and it looks like there are 4 shoots in good positions near the top of the stem so i think I will just prune the lower shoots in a few weeks and leave the stem as is that way it should also be high enough to stop my dog reaching for the cherries (cherry stones are apparently dangerous).

I'll go ahead and cut my apple tree down though, i thought the pruning advice was set in stone so glad to hear it's possible to do it later.

I've been watching a few videos on nicking and notching and i think i should be able to do it now myself. This is my favourite one https://youtu.be/2ds2bflJH-s quite a bit longer than the one you linked but definitely worth it for those who are as clueless as me.

[nickdub]

Always good if someone takes an interest in growing fruit - in some ways its the ideal form of gardening as you can leave the trees to look after themselves for years on end once they are mature, and still expect to get a crop of sorts.

Training and pruning fruit trees is a really art form, but not one I have ever taken a lot of time to learn as I Have space for large trees. Most people don't prune their trees enough when they are small, then conversely they chop at the trees all the time when they are bigger, when very often they'd be better off doing nothing.

[Fruitz]

Always good if someone takes an interest in growing fruit - in some ways its the ideal form of gardening as you can leave the trees to look after themselves for years on end once they are mature, and still expect to get a crop of sorts.

Training and pruning fruit trees is a really art form, but not one I have ever taken a lot of time to learn as I Have space for large trees. Most people don't prune their trees enough when they are small, then conversely they chop at the trees all the time when they are bigger, when very often they'd be better off doing nothing.

Yeah it seems like one of the easiest ways to grow some treats, i just wish I'd got in to it a few years ago as the trees would be bigger by now. I really just wanted a gala apple tree but then i decided to get a braeburn and stella alongside it. I have space for one more fruit tree but it's in a partial shade area so only gets a few hours of sunlight, i want a pear but i know that probably won't do too well there. Not too interested in sour cherry at the moment.

I've just pruned the tree, i decided not too cut it down by too much, maybe only 10cm as that's where the best shoots were, i didn't manage to cut the stem as well as i was hoping as can be seen in the pictures.







Have i messed it up?

[Brack]

I planted a couple of apples last year, one isn't quite growing how it should. I tried to prune it a bit last year and I don't think I did much good, but the tree is still growing, still small and it's a learning experience. It's still alive and it'll still fruit, just maybe not as much as if I'd done better. Unless you kill the tree I figure you're still doing alright!

[Lardman]

They'll be fine, if you saw some of the raggedy cut I make you'd be far less worried. I wouldn't have bothered trimming them to be honest, and depending on the shape of the tree you want to end up with I'd probably have left them next year too.

...I Have space for large trees.

Nah, you just don't have enough small trees

[veggiechicken]

Hi Fruitz and welcome.
Instead of cutting the trees in half you could have trained the branches that grew downwards or horizontally.
Do you know what rootstock the trees have?

[nickdub]

"Have i messed it up?"

No your tree will be fine -young plants like this want to grow and all that's really need is something like reasonable conditions for them and they'll get on with the rest.

{If I was forced to criticise I'd say the cut is a little (5mm) too close to the top shoot and that whatever you used (secateurs ?) either aren't quite sharp enough, or possibly not adjusted correctly to do the cleanest of cuts}

PS don't forget to water your young tree and Happy Gardening :-)

[Fruitz]

I planted a couple of apples last year, one isn't quite growing how it should. I tried to prune it a bit last year and I don't think I did much good, but the tree is still growing, still small and it's a learning experience. It's still alive and it'll still fruit, just maybe not as much as if I'd done better. Unless you kill the tree I figure you're still doing alright!

I planted 2 apples and 1 cherry in late March this year and they all seem to be doing well, time will tell how much they grow but i hope they grow well

[Fruitz]

They'll be fine, if you saw some of the raggedy cut I make you'd be far less worried. I wouldn't have bothered trimming them to be honest, and depending on the shape of the tree you want to end up with I'd probably have left them next year too.



Nah, you just don't have enough small trees

I guess being very new you do worry over everything but I'm sure after a few years I'll be comfortable enough to prune trees with a chainsaw whilst blindfolded (not really but you get what i mean).

[Fruitz]

Hi Fruitz and welcome.
Instead of cutting the trees in half you could have trained the branches that grew downwards or horizontally.
Do you know what rootstock the trees have?

Thanks for the welcome.

You'll be happy to know i only took 10cm or so off the top but i did realise it was probably pointless straight after doing so, i could have just removed the side shoots and leave the 4 i wanted and either leave the stem as is (as it was already cut down) since it was such a small amount or if i really wanted i could have taken it off in winter. However after reading it should be fine after the not so great cut I'm not really worried.

Apple is braeburn on mm106 and cherry is stella on colt

.

[Fruitz]

"Have i messed it up?"

No your tree will be fine -young plants like this want to grow and all that's really need is something like reasonable conditions for them and they'll get on with the rest.

{If I was forced to criticise I'd say the cut is a little (5mm) too close to the top shoot and that whatever you used (secateurs ?) either aren't quite sharp enough, or possibly not adjusted correctly to do the cleanest of cuts}

PS don't forget to water your young tree and Happy Gardening :-)

That's great to hear.

Funny you say that, i actually cut probably exactly 5mm above but it came out real bad so i had to go slightly lower to get a straighter cut. I used secateurs and it is fairly sharp but maybe not enough, i also couldn't get them in properly as i didn't want to break the top shoot.