I consider it unlikely that spreading the branches will make them more susceptible to breakage from the snow. If the weight of the snow lowered them further it would seem inevitable with or without the spreaders.

That said, I usually place spreaders later in the season than this as I prune oldest apple trees in Dec. and most of those in the more coastal Greenwich. Still, over the years many of my spread branches have been further weighted by heavy snow without appreciable damage.

Thanks harvestman.

I have had problems with high winds and branches tied down to stakes or the deer cages I put around young trees. It has caused several to tear out(the branches), and sometimes caused the leader above to partialy break/bend. Essentialy the whole tree moves but not the string...like yanking on a branch in reverse, or the string acts to artificaily stiffen the tree too high creating a "hard" spot in the tree's flex.
This has only happend to me when leaves were on....a lot more sail for the wind to catch

Thanks for the response Rob. That's what I was concerned about. Since harvestman mentioned that he usually places spreaders later anyway, I took the metal spreaders out just in case. I'll put them back later.

I don't think spreaders would be an issue, they will move with the tree. It's tie downs that I rarely use anymore. I find with spreaders, if I put them in in early spring and take them out in fall I get all the effect I usually need.

Interesting Rob. I've had good luck staking branches down. I rarely lose a branch to it and we get plenty of wind here in KS. I've got a bunch of thick wire stakes I push in the ground and use cotton string to tie the branches down.

The reason I don't like the spreaders is that I prefer to start spreading branches very early, and I have trouble with the spreaders staying put on small branches. I've used tape before to make them stay, but that takes too long.

Olpea,
I really liked tying too. It let me pull down long young branches further out than I could get speaders to hold reliably. But on two occasions this spring /summer I lost several branches about the size of my little finger in diameter. each time they tore off at the trunk union, and unfortunately not cleanly...took a fair bit of bark away below.
Thinking back, I do believe all of these occurred on limbs tied down to the top of a small ring of deer fencing as opposed to cinder block of stakes. Perhaps somehow that geometry changed things...but I don't see why it would. All the losses occurred with gusty winds, not steady..which I think created a more jerking action?
Given the number of branches I had tied (many) compared to the number damaged (4-5)it wasn't a big problem, but it made a mess of the trees that did get "hit" so I have stopped doing it. Which is a drag, because it was so easy to pull the branches right where you wanted them, and most of the young trees have that fencing ring until they get well above browse level.