I usually don't bother spreading Goldrush as branches tend to spread all by themselves. I think you may be spreading them too much- shoot for 65 degrees or so. If they are close to horizontal they'll runt out and Goldrush needs to be coaxed to maintain vegetative vigor- it's a spur monster (early fruiter with low vegetative vigor). Of course, you have far to many scaffolds for the ultimate structure of the tree but Goldrush is a reluctant secondary brancher so you'll probably want to run with more of them than you would with something like a Fuji. Because it's a young tree the extra scaffolds are fine, and it's hard to find a balance between helping a tree develop secondary branching which more light helps and getting the tree to size as soon as possible which is done by pruning as little as possible. I work on that balance every day and still struggle with it. Every variety is different. I'm buying some Promelin this year to paint the scaffolds of reluctant secondary branchers. When determining the necessity of branch spreading consider the precosity of the variety. For pear trees spreading is almost mandatory as it is for varieties like Fuji and Norther Spy. Spurry types like Goldrush, Empire and Ark Black can often be left alone.

Ken - thanks for the link. I wish the GW search had a date filter. I searched before I cut the first time, and when I searched again last week, seemed to be getting only the same (old) results. Maybe Zooba and I should have a "stumps to green" contest. :-) Zooba's at least have a certain architectural quality mine lack. I'll see what mine look like come next spring and replace if I need to replace.

I have been pruning roses in Riverside (SS 18) for almost 30 years. I've pruned Hybrid Teas as early as the weekend after Thanksgiving. The most damage that occurred was some tip burn and some puckering of the leaves on roses that had resprouted before the end of December. Most didn't resprout until mid January. There was a 15 year period where Riverside never had frost or freezing temps. This year the coldest was one night of 26 degrees F. Many sub-tropicals experienced leaf and upper branch tip die-back. The roses didn't have any damage, but that could be the result of micro-climates , as well. Roses are very tough plants and will recover rapidly from damage. With only 1.98 inches of rain per year, this past year, and the dryness continues, we don't worry about disease problems. Spraying with a dormant oil helps to prevent many over-wintering disease problems. I once cut a Simplicity rose hedge back in early November so that it would be blooming for a christmas party. Worked okay, not heavy with blooms but still satisfactory. Hopflower, since you like bulb flowers, have you grown any Geissorhiza. If so, how did they perform?

To add to what others have said, trimming off only 1/3 of the living plant material (esp. the leaves) is the general rule of thumb to harvesting plant material or pruning if you intend for the plant to recover and continue to grow. I would suggest starting new seeds with increased lighting. FataMorgana