Apple Tree Spring Pruning

The other tree that we bought last year (not pictured) was severely damaged by deer browsing and had to be pruned this past Summer. It fared fairly well considering the amount of damage and out of season pruning and bounced back quickly. It began producing new growth almost immediately, as shown in my post Apple Tree Update. I was concerned about it making it through the Winter, lacking the normal time to harden off following it's late pruning. I pruned it very lightly this Spring and with any luck it should start growing again soon.

The apple tree pictured in this post is the same tree as the top picture featured in my previous post, Apple Trees. You can see in the before pruning picture (above left) that it had been damaged before we bought it last Spring, which is probably why we got it on sale for about $3. This tree probably should have been pruned last year as well, even if it was so late, but I was concerned about removing so much of the tree so late in the season.

Knowing that this tree would need a severe pruning this Spring and that the other tree was damaged so badly last Summer I've prepared myself for the worst with both of these trees. With that in mind I removed the top half of the central leader this week with my very first cut on this tree. Next I pruned off two thirds of the branch, shown here on the right, which had begun competing for dominance following the damage to the central leader. Had I known last year what I know now I may have completely removed it then, thwarting the competition. I left it in case the central leader died, with the hopes of training it into the new central leader. Now that everything has made it this far the competition will only stunt the tree so I took the branch down by two thirds. It has a pretty sharp angle and if left that way it could break and damage the tree in the future. My thoughts right now are to leave it this year, tying it down to a better angle later in the year once the sap starts flowing and it's a little more flexible. If it doesn't compete with the leader like it did last year it may hang around for a couple more years, but honestly, it's probably too low to become a permanent scaffold branch. I picked three other branches to keep, trimmed them back lightly and removed the rest. Send some positive energy this tree's way, maybe with a little love and some luck it'll grow like wildfire this year!