older apple tree: ok to take out leader in order to reduce hight

linaria_gw

7 years ago

sorry, I hope I got my point across (not my mother tongue...)

current situation: I took over an older cooking apple tree, stem about 3 feet high

it was neglected for the last 8 years+,

the shape is ok-ish, there is a central leader, even though it is ziczacking quite a bit,

and there are some main branches, which I need to prune & adjust further

BUT

the main problem is with wormy apples and actions against it

I did some research and it seems that a spray with an organic oil solution would help quite a lot

problem:

the tree canopy is so hugh that I just can`t cover the whole thing using my simple pressure spray thingy (with a hand pump mechanism), balancing on a ladder

last year -and it looks like tis year also- there seem to be only wormy apples which fall down early, don`t store at all and are just not great,

so I wondered if I could take out the central leader, reducing the general hight and hopefully ending up with a shape that would allow me to spray the whole canopy.

I`m tired of only iffy apples and I reckon that it would shorten the life span of that tree, but I feel like chopping it down anyway if I can`t get a decent cropp from it,

not perfect, but at least some unpunctered apples.

Stepps taken so far: collecting all apples from the ground and binning them,

glue collar around the stem (didn`t seem to make a difference)

experimental pheromone trap (its moth count was very high, pointing to: take further action, spray ... in the manual)

any thoughts, anyone who did something similar?

Thanks for input, bye, Lin

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Comments (3)

spartanapples
7 years ago
Lineria:

How tall is this old tree? How big in diameter is the leader that you want to cut out?

I hear you on not being able to safely and properly spray standing on a ladder. I too spray my 22 fruit trees with a pump sprayer. I find I can spray up to 15' while standing on the ground. The best spray pattern I can get is about 12'. Every pump sprayer I purchase, I fill will with water and run a test before using it. I spray my cement driveway to see how far it will spray and how well the concrete wets at different nozzle settings. So far my Chapin and Hudson pump sprayers do a decent job for about 12' and with the nozzle set to a coarser stream, I can get to 15' but with not as wide a spray coverage at that distance.

Because of this, all my trees are kept to a maximum height of 15'. No use letting them grow taller for the insects to ruin if I can't spray them any higher. Standing on a ladder to spray is too dangerous and time consuming for me.

Yes you can cut the leader back to open up the tree more for sunlight and height reduction. Best done when the tree is dormant in late winter. A central leader system is nice, but the tree will bear apples just fine if it is not central leader anymore. I have some apples as central leader and a few that are vase pruned. Both systems work.

What "worms" are bothering your apples? I presume coddling moths? Where I live we normally have 2 generations of coddling moths each year. The first hits sometime mid-late june with the damage showing up early July. Most of the time apples hit this early abort. The second generation comes anytime late July thru August and these apples usually stay on the tree but ripen earlier than normal. It may be different where you live however.
linaria_gw thanked spartanapples
linaria_gw
Original Author
7 years ago
Hi spartanapples

thanks for your answer,

good questions

I have an allotment, so I don`t go daily into the garden.

definetely need to take a pic, perhaps another one after he leaves came down.

Height (roughly guessed from memory is somewher around 20feet +, but I know that estimating height can be tricky).

about the girth,

I think I could reduce the diameter reasonably by moving the cut up somewhat,

again, a pic would help,

I need to ponder/ decide that anyway, and before I unpack the saw.

So, thanks, not done yet, but preparing,

I will come back with pics,

bye, Lin
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older apple tree: ok to take out leader in order to reduce hight

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spartanapples

linaria_gw
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older apple tree: ok to take out leader in order to reduce hight

Comments (3)

spartanapples

linaria_gwOriginal Author

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linaria_gw
Original Author