Wow, there are more options then I relized. THanks for the input everyone. Noogy - thats pretty much what i was thinking. The only things holding me back were the vetical branches, and lack of growth/branches from last year. Harvestman - Ive never heard of bevel cut (or dutch cut from what ive read) From what I can gather, you make a sortve wedge at the tips of the branches but leave extra wood on the bottom so new braches will sprout. Sound about right? Ill have to keep that in mind Konrad - Thanks for joinin in. Leaving it alone for this year was one of my ideas. My apple tree did the same thing - not much growth the first season, and grew relatively well the next (we have massive spring rain, which definitely didnt help) Now you mention the palletability of John. I cant find too much info on this pear (you may remember my thread last year on it). The only 2 people ive talked too who are growing it are you and my boss. My boss says theyre slightly more tart then his Ure. That may just be your own pallet, rather than taste? The little I found stated that the taste isnt preferable, inless its growin in cold conditions (not saying you arent cold. You are colder then I am). A friend is sending me flemish beauty scion. I have a seedling pear that I want to graft it too. I was also thinking of putting some scion on the John, leaving the lower branches I have, cutting town the leader, and letting the whole top be Flemish Beauty (pretty much what you said). So in that suggestion, you are saying cut all the branches off, and cut down the leader to how low? The tree is ust over 6 feet tall, and if I head the top back to around half, I can fit 2 scion when I split the trunk at that height. Are you suggesting I can leave the scaffolds I have now, and just graft flemish beauty to them (aside from one?) Heh, so much for a "simple question" :D

Peaches can be pruned starting Feb around here. See below for Virginia guide stating such. I am going to start soon on my peach pruning. I like to get the pruning out of the way as early as I can so I can have the time for spraying grafting etc later when things are busier. With the trident I would prune all three to around 1' long (sounds like the middle one is already below that length). The tree will branch out better this coming year. With the moose-eaten apple it sounds like you may need to start over on the scaffolds. Top it at 4'. It will shoot out several limbs; prune out any extras early on and try to direct them more horizontally and get a vase shape. Or let only one grow and make a new central leader. Scott Here is a link that might be useful: VT peach pruning

You can head the main branch, just use a modified leader to continue. And if it splits, remove the other split. Not a big deal. It may even be desirable to do to stimulate growth. I actually have the book "The Pruning Book" by Lee Reich. And that is his rovada currant pictured. He goes over how he did it. I think the info is online too. OK, well I just read the section and he does not trim the main branch at all. Till it reaches the top. Lee say summer prune any laterals that develop on the two splits, he prunes to 5 inches. Then in winter prunes these laterals to 2 inches. I guess once established you just keep doing this. I guess you would prune ends to keep at desired length. On my two, I didn't trim other branches, but he says summer pruning is OK, so once mine establish (they have only been in the ground a few days!) I will prune them down to a few inches. I read in another book about keeping spares, as the cordon can and at times do fail. The idea here is to make it look pretty. it's not about production. A bush will produce more. I have 6 bushes growing too! 2 red, 2 white, and 2 pink! Here is Laxton No 1 with Jesse the wonder dog on guard against currant snatchers! This post was edited by Drew51 on Thu, May 16, 13 at 16:02

Considering you have so many sprouts from below the the first branch set, you can select ANY of the sprouts from the trunk and make that into your new tree. I have had two instances with the same tree of a similar but different situation: I have a red/silver cross (Acer x freemanii) that I dug as a 6" seedling from my grandmother's garden. Planted it into the ground in late October of 2009 to over-winter it safely. A rabbit came during that winter and ate the stem to 1" from the ground. Determined as I was, I dug it up, potted it up and let it sprout last spring. I nubbed off every sprout but the one closest to the cut end, and let that sprout shoot up for the duration of summer 2010. It grew almost to 3' tall. In December 2010, after the little tree had turned the most amazing shades of hot red, we had a 4 day unprecedented snow fall (snow squalls, lake effect snow) the likes of which snapped the stem to 6" from the ground (in a new pot, in the ground again for the winter). As soon as the ground was thawed in March, I lifted the pot and kept it on the deck/patio. Again, the stem was enthusiastic about leafing out, and all the dormant buds were activated. I nubbed them away, only keeping the highest one on the stem. It has grown nearly 2' in the past 6 weeks. The wound has healed over completely and the stem is growing like a weed. Moral of the story: I'm determined to grow this silly weed of a hybrid. Moral 2 of the story: Even when you lose the top of a tree for an uncontrollable reason (weather, animals, etc) you can still succeed. Pick a vigorous stem and cut away all others. This stem will become the new trunk and will grow a considerable amount this summer. Remove the entire dead top to about half an inch from the shoot you will keep. The removal of all others will force all the root energy into one stem. It will hopefully prepare for winter and drop its leaves in October. Your one stem will branch profusely in the spring next year. It will look a little funny (well, a lot funny) but you won't have thrown away a perfectly good plant.