Omni, I thought this might be some helpful literature on the general maintenance of multiple budded varieties, from the Dave Wilson site: In comparison to a single fruit tree, multi-budded trees require special consideration. When selecting a multi-budded tree, look for one that has an even distribution of limbs around the tree. If the different fruit varieties (the limbs) are not well-spread on your trees, use a spreader to separate them. Multi-budded fruit trees are grown close together in the nursery rows and this can result in some of the budded selections receiving less-than-optimum sunlight during their development. Always plant the smallest limb (the "weakest" bud) to the south/southwest to insure that it gets plenty of sun.. Cut back the strongest growing varieties by 2/3rds. Cut back the weakest variety by 1/2 " or not at all. During the summer, watch the growth-rate of the smaller limbs to determine if pruning is necessary at that time. If the weakest variety is 1/2 the size of the others, it's best not to cut it back. Do Not! let one variety take over - or one or more of the the others may fail. Prune back the more aggressive limbs. Summer-prune when necessary in order to let sunlight get to all the developing varieties. The primary reason for the failure of multi-budded fruit trees is letting one variety take over which can cause the others to fail. This is most often due to lack of summer pruning when needed. remember to keep even sunlight available to all the developing selections. After the third season, maintain the multi-budded tree so that each fruit-type grows in balance with the others. Hope it helps! Jay

I would skip pruning this year and take a year learning from this forum. Pruning is far more then cutting some branches. you have to learn the hows and whys. you may discover the previous owner was not very good at it and you have things to fix. But you need to have your mind around it first. Furthermore what is right for me may be all wrong for the next guy. For example I didn't think picking apples from a ladder was that big of a deal.. until I had to to pick a whole lot of them. I prune to keep my fruit as low as possible, but my friend in the country cannot do it that way

I suggest you pinch back all but your leading bud at top of tree to maintain central leader and the dominance of the bud going most straight. You can let the rest of the tree grow for now as long as nothing threatens the dominance of the leader.

rob, generally you are right , but I have seen where a few have had leftover rootstock that was to large for toung and whip and they used cleft instead of budding.....though it is usually only done by someone that they are teaching to graft and since they normally start by having them grafting pear and apples it's no big deal to them to trim it following the first seasons growth. Ive worked with some of the large nurseries and seen it tho once they learn to bud they wont use cleft again unless topworking and even then only if it cant be budded.