It's not too late to prune. You seem to have a good plan. Go ahead, that's the best way to learn. The Fruitnut

There are so many possible ways to train fruit trees. The christmas tree shaped central leader is now the most proscribed method for free standers (M26 and on up). It is a relatively efficient shape for harvesting light throughout the tree to get the maximum yeald of maximum sized fruit. The funny thing is that the home orchardist often doesn't need to maximize space and harvest. The christmas tree (the academics call it pyramid) shape is not the easiest to maintain. Once branches get overloaded with fruit and bend below horizontal you almost have to replace them to maintain the efficiency of the shape. As mentioned, some varieties just seem to want to weep. Ginger Gold is the one that breaks my balls this way. Also, with this shape the upper scaffolds must be periodically removed once they get to be too large diametered. I believe that very few hobbyist ever really master this part of maintenance. Shaping a tree like spokes would be fine, although I agree that it would require support for a few years. It's actually just an open center shape. I think you are imagining a tree without secondary and tertiery wood. You are really better off with just 3 spokes for most varieties of apples- maybe 4 for plums and apples that spur up a lot and dont produce a lot of secondary and tertiery wood. The only drawback of this horizontal, open center shape is the requirement for support. The easiest shape to maintain in my opinion is an umbrella shape. Once you make the shape all the decisions are easy-just prune to the weakest wood to create a weeping shape. Trees are productive, tend to annual bearing and can be maintained at a height above deer if you want, which makes mowing easy also. It leaves room in the yard for other things. You have to like the ladder dance though. That said, I usually train trees to the before mentioned christmas tree shape. Not only is it efficient, but the fact that it requires skillful pruning ensures that I will always have lots of work.

what he said ... but lets start with what your goal is with this tree ... my first goal.. is usually being able to walk under a tree.. without poking an eye out ...[actually its mowing at speed on the rider] if you want that.. then you take off the lowest two or so branches ... and start training the tree up ... the other side of the coin.. is that most orchards.. train their trees down [and bare in the middle].. to favor harvest ... but they end up with really.. really ugly trees ... so to start.. define where you want to go ... i grow some fruit.. mainly to say i can... i am not going to be spraying them the requisite 4 to 6 times a year.. to get grocery store perfect fruit .... so i really dont care if the fruit can be easily picked ... so up they go ... and i usually get just enough ugly fruit.. to make the kids happy ... lol.. blotchy apples still make great pie .... as brandon noted ... fruit peeps do it much different than tree peeps... and we will miss you if you end up over there... lol ... ken ps: i am using tree rules... for my eyes.. not fruit rules... if you didnt figure that out ...

thanks much - figured that is the most likely culprit, so a little pruning to open it up a little might head it off. The neighbor said they were green apples with black spots. I'm wondering if they might be crispins, but either way, getting a few stray branches out of the way might be a good thing.