Advice for tuning up my fruit trees & grape vines

7 years ago

I am buying a house that has some mature fruit trees and a grape vine.

First the apple tree. I have no idea on the age but it's at least 20 years old. Clearly it needs some shaping but I don't want to stress it out too much. I have been doing some reading and it looks like I should go in this order.

1. Prune any downward pointing branches

2. Prune the branches growing up from the trunk

3. Cut crossing branches

4. Cut water shoots

What advice do you have for me on this tree? I'm thinking I'd like to discourage the growth to the left in the photo since I think it's detrimental to the strength of tree tree.

Featured Answer

parker25mv

7 years ago

If large fruit trees go many years without water, the tree may likely never be the same. It will not be as healthy as it could have been. All that that dead wood will not recover and can lead to the tree being more vulnerable to disease later on. The tree will likely still be able to produce plenty of fruit but just less than it could have if it hadn't gone neglected for so long.

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Comments (8)

J H
Original Author
7 years ago

I also have an old grape vine. In the Fall I am going to build a better trellis with wood posts and an overhang. This vine sits outside our dining room window and unfortunately looks like a pile of weeds to most people. Originally my plan was to cut the vine way back to just the head and cordons. It looks like the previous owner trained the vine to have upper and lower cordons.

Since the first photo there has been some growth, I was hoping to get to trimming before growth started.

Should I cut the canes back to the cordons?

Should I just let it grow for this season?

It really looks like a mess right now.
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J H
Original Author
7 years ago
Parker the apple tree has been watered regularly but I don't think the previous owner had the ability to prune it properly for quite a few years.
J H
Original Author
7 years ago
The lemon and lime trees are fairly young by comparison. Should these just be opened up a bit to allow some airflow and shape them up?
Jason (Zone 10b, San Diego)
7 years ago
I would go slowly on pruning the apple tree. Typically, even with a healthy tree the experts recommend pruning no more than 25% of the structure each year. As your tree is already stressed, exceeding this may harm it.

Citrus trees generally do not need to be pruned, unless it is for aesthetic reasons or, like you mentioned, to open up the interior to improve air flow. The tree in the initial picture you may want to gently prune so that you do not need a ladder to harvest the fruit. Up to you.

Best of luck.
J H
Original Author
7 years ago
Thank you Jason. I will be sure to not get too wild with trimming it and consider shaping to be a long term project.
Leonard Wilkins Zone 5 New Brunswick Canada
7 years ago
Other than the obvious dead damage diseased . IMHO the tree has way too much growth upwards and in the center . I would cut the watersprouts out.
AJD1221
7 years ago
The apple looks more like a flowering crabapple than an actual apple. Is there any indication of what variety it actually is? If it is a flowering crab, you want to be VERY careful with pruning. If you do it wrong, it will quickly start sprouting limbs from everywhere and become a big old botanical mess! (speaking from personal experience)

Advice for tuning up my fruit trees & grape vines

parker25mv

Comments (8)

J H
Original Author

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J H
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Jason (Zone 10b, San Diego)

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Leonard Wilkins Zone 5 New Brunswick Canada

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Advice for tuning up my fruit trees & grape vines

parker25mv

Comments (8)

J HOriginal Author

Related Discussions

J HOriginal Author

J HOriginal Author

Jason (Zone 10b, San Diego)

J HOriginal Author

Leonard Wilkins Zone 5 New Brunswick Canada

AJD1221

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

J H
Original Author

J H
Original Author

J H
Original Author

J H
Original Author