Houzz Logo Print
danielinthelionsden

Young Apple Tree odd growth shape pruning

last month
last modified: last month

I have a semi-dwarf Gala Apple tree. Over the last few years the branches have bent sideways under the weight of the fruit causing the tree to grow in an even more dwarfed growth habit. I guess this summer it got feed up with that and it has put up 4 branches that grow straight up. I'm assuming it's doing that because as a semi-dwarf it wants to be more larger than it's current 4ft tall. So I'm just not quite sure how to prune for this. To me these look like branches growing at weak angles that should be removed. At the same time I'm pretty sure that if I remove them I'll be totally fighting against the nature of the tree & it's need to grow bigger. Any suggestions on how to train the tree up properly?

Here are some images of what's happening:



See it's this middle "branch" that concerns me the most. It looks like the tree is trying to develop a new central leader but that looks like a really weak branch growth angle to me:





Another shot of the new central leader:




Comments (2)