What was your goal in pruning?

I'm by no means an expert, but I probably would have done more thinning cuts and fewer heading cuts.

I'm guessing that what will happen next is the tree will send up dozens of vigorous unfruitful water sprouts straight up.

In any case, apples are very resilient. I'm sure you'll get some better advice and insight than mine.

My goal was to reduce the overall size of the tree, because of the several broken branches last season, I didn't want more just to break off.

I read that just today about the straight up sprouts and probably no fruit, and that I would need to prune significantly again this year....

I'm also no expert, but I would guess you eliminated most of the fruit producing spurs, so you probably won't have to worry about branches breaking (from too many apples) for many years.

I actually like the "before" tree. Was it producing sweet fruit?

jc

Yes the fruit was sweet. The apples were green apples, but the texture of the fruit was a little grainy if that makes sense.

So the buds that I left, have all opened up over the weekend, and a few leaves are visable. I post pics in a few days to gather more opinons.

Removing the trees shading the apple was the thing to do. I would have waited until next year before any drastic pruning to see how the tree fared in the full sun. Dwarfing rootstocks often have a very light grip on the earth. From the picture it is hard to tell what your soil is like but I would be aware of the possibility of a compaction problem. You will need to reestablish some horizontal branching to form new fruiting spurs. Before removing water sprouts that grow from this drastic pruning, you may want to start training a few to a more horizontal angle to fulfill this need. Al

So in the training of the water sprouts, do I treat it like a large bonzai, and weight or tie down the sprouts as the grow? Any branches that don't now bud and start growing, shall I remove them as summer progresses, or just leave them till next fall?

My soil is Georiga Red clay, a compaction problem would be an understatement, as to uncompacting it I don't see how it could be done with an established tree, if It was ruined by me, and doesn't turn around in a couple years, I'll remove it and plant some more in better locations, at that point, I'll assume I could fix the compaction problem via tilling a large area prior to planting?

So several of the buds form last year that I left are blooming! Is that good? Most all of the limbs have had new buds form, only a few appear to have no activity.

I would not think of removing any more of your tree at least until late summer. You can tie down selected water sprouts, but they should be carefully chosen to balance the tree, and the others removed. To help a compaction problem without digging, I would compost an area about six feed around the tree about 4 inches deep, keeping it about 3 inches away from the trunk. Consider this a NO WALK area. As the compost breaks down the soil organisms will work it into the soil. Of course any weed growth should be removed before doing this. I would expect any buds left to grow whether flower or leaf. Al

Here are some updated pics, sorry for the quality, it was a little dark this morning....

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updated photos, in the second one is that apples beginning?

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Yes.

I should have included this link with my answer.

Here is a link that might be useful: pictures of apple fruiting stages: MSU

Great! Nice link too, thanks.

Up dated photos....now what should i do?

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