I cannot help you with your question. Rather, I am responding to Harvestman's response to your question. I have done a fair amount of googling looking for information on how to prune my recently acquired mature apple trees, which are the opposite of yours in terms of the amount of attention they need (my trees have never been pruned). The concept of âÂÂrenovating spursâ or âÂÂremoving weak spursâÂÂ, or wanting âÂÂuprightsâ (I thought the best branches were between 10 and 2 for strength) have not been addressed in any of the YouTube videos I have watched. I am clearly displaying my ignorance here, which is kind of the point of this post. Is there a âÂÂgo tooâ reference text I can get that will explain all of these ideas and concepts in sufficient detail for me to get the information I need to deal with my individual situation. I donâÂÂt want âÂÂpruning for dummiesâÂÂ, I can get that from you tube. I want âÂÂpruning for people that can read at at least a high school levelâÂÂ. Harvestman clearly knows what he is talking about, and although we can access his experience through this forum, it would be really great to have a really detailed reference book so we can take care of the easy stuff on our own, and hit Harvestman up with the really hard questions (not saying that your question in this post is unworthy). I am just really tired of reading online pamphlets from the University of (insert state here) Extension on how to prune apple trees. They emphasize âÂÂhowâÂÂ, at this point I am more interested in âÂÂwhyâ because that will allow me to adapt procedures and techniques to my own situation. Harvestman was getting at âÂÂwhyâ when he said âÂÂyou prune to renovate spursâÂÂ. Try googling âÂÂrenovate spursâ and see what you get (I did, you get nothing related to orchards). So, I donâÂÂt want to highjack this thread into a debate on pruning books, but it may help us all to see what people think is the best text to help thomis out with his issue, and maybe a lot of us with our own questions.

Hi Ed- I will lend some experience to my 4-1 apple. Last year my 4-1 looked like this on the main scaffold of all the 4 types. It was almost like the tree was damaged somehow but the ends were just like your tree and leafed out properly. I had probably a foot of just branch with no leafing. I waited until late November and cut them back quite substantially and it leafed out properly, flowered and now has apples. So, I would probably just let it go until dormant, then cut. It worked for me. With a tree that young its really about the root development and removing 30% of the leaves can't help early summer.

KInd of hard to tell from those pics. Looks like potentially fire blight. I assume they are on dwarf root stock since you have them attached to a trellis wire. I see almost zero growth. Looks like you may have had some poor quality trees from the get go. Did you do a soil test prior to planting? Did you water them in when planting and keep them watered? I dont know your location or what your weather has been like since planting.

Well, much to my surprise, some of the grafts that I put on last year grew fruit spurs, and flowered this spring. Some others grew longer, with no spurs. Maybe those were what the buds were intended for all along, and they just now came out. Anyways, a few flowers on last year's grafts is interesting. This year's grafts have started to really take off. I think I did a much better job of it this year than last. I have a few more scions on the way, so I hope to get those on this weekend, and harvest a few apples in a few years. This winter, I'll try to bring this tree back down to size. BTW - it must've overproduced year before last, then been stunted last year. This year, it is totally covered in flowers. If those turn to apples, I'll have to do a lot of thinning. Fun stuff - thanks for the help everyone.