Drew, I'm sorry, I did accidentally (subconsciously on purpose, probably) exaggerate, but the guide doesn't recommend spray after pruning. However, upon further reading, I've found that your information is correct and copper spray is widely recommended after pruning even though it isn't very affective- but enough so to be worth doing according to current Cornell and other guidelines. I stand corrected and thank you for bringing this to my attention. After reading all this material about cherry canker I am somewhat surprised that my careless timing of pruning has never led to any outbreaks of this infection over the last 25 years. Cherries are a minority species in orchards I manage and I am very busy doing non-pruning work in the first couple weeks after trees come out of dormancy. It would be expensive to come back to prune only cherries and peaches at many of the smaller orchards I manage. I recently started managing cherries with summer pruning anyway- but only to better manage fruiting wood. I will now pay more attention to weather forecasts before performing this kind of pruning. I will wait until I actually see some cherry canker somewhere before I start spraying after pruning. I have to keep customer expenses down. If you hadn't posted about it I wouldn't think about cherry canker much at all. Thanks again.

Sure, go for it. There is nothing inherently wrong with a watersprout. They tend to be in the dark interior and completely vertical so of the worst type for fruiting, but if you bend one off vertical and it gets good sun, then its a keeper. Scott

Yes, I'd wait until they have begun to actively grow. If the leaf buds/nodes have not begun to fatten up and grow it's a little early yet. If they are already starting to grow then go ahead and prune them. There is no sure rule for it because it's a very climate specific thing and there are a lot micro climates that can influence things. For me spring comes a little later than elsewhere here even though I'm in zone 6. I'm right on the lake and that big expanse of water was frozen all winter and takes time to warm up. The cold wind coming off the water keeps my yard cooler than places even a few miles inland from me in the spring. However, in the fall it takes a long time for that water to cool down again so I'm warmer than inland and will have roses blooming sometimes into November. You have to learn how your area works and go with the right time for you. I don't just start at 1/3 of the way down. Sometimes they're still healthy much higher than that and I like to leave mine with as much good cane to start out with as possible. In our cold zones we lose a lot as it is. Start at the top of each cane and cut off about 2 inches. Look at the center of the cane. Is it White/green or tan/brown? White/green is live cane. Tan /brown is dead wood. Keep cutting down about 2 inches at a time just above an outward facing leaf bud until you get to cane that has a clear, clean white/green center. From there down you should be good. But also check down the sides of the canes for dark streaks or damage. If the cane has been damaged further down chances are it will die back to below that damage anyway so you might as well take it off.

Beesneeds: I have 11 apple trees on various rootstocks. I prune with Felco pruners, loppers and a pruning saw. I also use a stepladder. I try and keep my older and larger trees no taller than 15' as I cannot pick ,spray or prune anything taller than that with the equipment I have. I feel your pain as I had one very wide apple tree that is difficult on one side to even work my ladder into. I ended up just cutting out a few large limbs to make this happen. I figured that was the best way as what use are apples that I cannot get to and pick when they are ripe (unless you are letting them drop and picking up the windfalls for harvest). Saw away is my advice and open up the tree a bit. Better light penetration will give you apples with better skin color and better flavor. Also a more open canopy promotes better air flow so the fruit/foliage will dry off quicker so hopefully less prone to scab, mildew, sooty blotch ect. IF you have not pruned much the past few years, I would advice not removing LOTS of wood the first year. Pruning old trees too heavily can result in a lot of water sprout formation. Best to remove lots of wood over a period of several years instead of all at once. I often summer prune out water sprouts when I see them instead of letting them go and doing it during the dormant season.