Hello Doug - - I’m surprised no one has jumped into this yet -
I'll take a swing at it, be assured others will hold different opinions - So - I think all would agree that different varieties have different growth habits and so respond in differing fashion to manipulation - so, ‘one size fits all’ doesn’t totally apply - that said, fruiting spurs develop on two year old wood - if you remove all the 1 year old wood you push fruiting back a year - - When your trees were dug they lost a percentage of their roots - it’s generally appropriate to reduce the top to ‘balance’ the shoot/root ratio - Remove any limbs/twigs that are too low for your system - - and also any with poor crotch angles that cannot be compensated for by spreaders/tying/etc Then it’s a matter of evaluation - is there a manipulation or would no manipulation result in blooming/fruiting spurs next year in the ‘sweet volume’ where you want to see fruit? - - here’s where the difference between Golden Delicious and Fuji (for example) is huge - Goldens will develop spurs on two year old wood near the trunk while Fuji is much less likely to - - managing these situations is why horticulturalists make the big $$$ Anyway - for a ‘one size fits all’ recommendation, after the above, remove the 2-4 largest branches - consider bending the ones you leave if they reach into the next tree’s space or into the drive road - regards - David Doud - once stayed in a Holiday Inn Express... 1/2” green, rain, mud, bah - > On Apr 3, 2017, at 9:58 AM, Doug Nelson <doug.nel...@nelsonmultimedia.com> > wrote: > > Good Morning, > > I am a new apple grower. I expanded my orchard from 500 trees to 5000 trees > this spring. Most of the 4500 new trees I have just finished planting are > still dormant. > > I am growing tall spindle on B9 and M9 root stocks on 5 wire trellis system. > > Many of the trees have feathers that are too big for the tall spindle system. > > Should I do a late pruning of these branches that are too big while the > plants are still dormant or wait till next winter? > > The internet says conflicting things. I think it would be smart to remove > branches so the trees dont waste a years growth. > > I plan on notching these trees every 4th bud two weeks before full bloom. > > -- > Doug Nelson > > _______________________________________________ > apple-crop mailing list > apple-crop@virtualorchard.com > http://virtualorchard.com/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop _______________________________________________ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.com http://virtualorchard.com/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop
