Some varieties thrive in neglect- where you are some suffer anywhere from not at all to terribly from scab and or cedar apple rust, both of which are fungus that look like there name. Minimal spray to control these where you are is 2, one at petal fall and one 10 days to 2 weeks later with a mixture of Myclobutanil and Captan. If you are near heavy innoculum (red cedars) you may need an earlier spray as well or suffer a little CAR damage. Tent caterpillar may defoliate part or even all of a tree early in the season but a healthy tree quickly recovers. There are other less likely pests, especially unlikely in minimally pruned trees, such as mites and scale so if the trees deteriate be alert. The only way to find out what the minimum input for survival is is to stop spraying all together and find out what your pests are. Pruning is for better fruit production and ascetics primarily though some tout the advantage of better air circulation for reducing fungus. I've seen a lot of incredibly "overgrown" apple trees that were as healthy as they were overgrown. Don't fault the tree care guys- they are only making a living and providing one for insurance companies, mechanics, and your states bureacracy.

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.

We have an old 30-40 some odd year old tree. Unknown variety. Earlier Apple variety. Looking at it a couple days ago there is one branch that has entirely different Apple than the rest of the tree. It has not been grafted previous to this year. First phot is the abnormal Apple It's a different shape and size, a different color (more yellow green than blue green) and it's shiny like a polished Macintosh where the other limbs have a waxy bloom. There's only one Apple like it because I cut the tree way back this year. So if it is a mutation and if I like this Apple, will the mutation be on the whole branch or just that spur? I've basically cut most of the main limb off to graft to this year via bark/rhind graft) and left a couple nurse branches and this mystery apple is on one of those branches. Branch is about 2-3" thick. Main limb is about 6-8" thick. I'll document size and shape with photos and dates and watch to see if it changes color. I'll have to taste it at some point too but will take photos of top bottom insides and seeds. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you all! Konrad, it really does look better... poor thing. :) It would look better still as the flowering crab it was meant to be. lol! I'm looking it over to find a way to shape it better, and if we can get to it, clipping 3' off the longest limbs should help a lot. gardengal, great to know! I'm apprehensive because I've read about the dreaded suckers that come from hard pruning. :p ma_deigobbo, wonderful info! re thinning, just taking out what we have has made a huge difference in how 'light and airy' the tree appears. We knew we still had some trimming to do and thanks to all of you I feel much better about the direction I'm going. I very much appreciate your responses!