With the onset of spring, the garden wakes up, which means that painstaking work lies ahead. After all, trees need not only processing, but also pruning. And some cultures should also have time to awaken from hibernation.
Therefore, as soon as the sun appears from behind the clouds, we do not waste time, but we go to the garden. Moreover, at first we are faced with the task of how to rejuvenate an old apple tree, if there is one in the front garden. And does it make sense to carry out this procedure. Every gardener, both beginner and experienced, should know how to prune old apple trees in spring.
Why you need to prune old trees
If you do not follow the growth of the tree, then after a while it will grow and will shade most of the personal plot. Apart from this, the amount of the harvest will be greatly reduced. And old apple trees can completely die if they do not undergo anti-aging procedures. Therefore, by pruning an old apple tree in the fall, they get:
- A healthy plant. When damaged and infected branches are removed, further spread of the disease is prevented.
- Formed crown. With proper formation, a well-groomed apple tree is obtained, which is well ventilated and illuminated. As a result, there is less damage by rot and disease, and large fruits that are not shaded.
- Rejuvenated apple tree. Fruits practically do not grow on old branches. When they are removed, new shoots begin to grow, which bear fruit well.
If you cut the old apple tree correctly in the fall, you can increase the number of fruits that evenly receive a sufficient amount of air and light. This ensures the full maturation of each fruit.
Pruning time
There is some controversy about when is the best time to prune an old apple tree. There are certain rules:
- cut off young seedlings in spring, as they will have time to get stronger before winter frosts;
- in the fall, old trees are pruned, because in the spring all the wounds will have time to heal, and the apple tree will begin to bear fruit without delay;
- summer jobs are negligible and done for thinning;
- in the southern part, both young and old trees are cut in winter.
Pruning mature trees is best in the fall. During this time, the damage done will be minimal. It is difficult to determine the exact terms of work. It all depends on the variety and on the climatic conditions of the region. Several factors are important to consider. First, the growing season must end. Then all the leaves will fall off, and the sap flow will stop. Secondly, the procedure is done three weeks before the onset of frost. During this time, the injuries on the plant will have time to heal.
On a note!
If in September the whole crop has already been harvested and in the near future there is no way to come to the garden, then it is recommended to do a light pruning. Saw off small branches up to 2 cm in diameter, the remaining large branches are removed in the spring.
Tips for removing old apple trees
Based on practice, we can confidently say that the main thing in this matter is not to interfere with men in doing their work. Superfluous hints will only distract. I'll tell you a short story from personal experience. An apple tree grew on our site, which, with heavy and spreading branches, obscured the young apple tree growing nearby.
With the help of a stepladder, the husband got to the largest branch of the old tree and began to saw it. After a while, a crackling sound was heard.At that moment, the thought occurred to me that my husband was doing everything wrong and would break my young apple tree. It came to a quarrel. As a result, the trunk of the sawn branch fell flat on the apple tree, as I had predicted, and broke the base of the young tree.
Then there are tears, reproaches and regrets that the beloved garden beauty will not please with the harvest now. Of course, we made up with my husband, we can say that I was the culprit of the misfortune, because I got in with my advice and reproaches at the most inopportune moment.
As for my apple tree, its broken trunk only held on to the bark. Hoping for a miracle, I managed to lay it down neatly, smear everything around with garden pitch and wrap it with cloth. There was no limit to surprise and joy when in the spring the apple tree seemed to come to life.
For the first time in six years, two apples appeared on it. Perhaps the life of this healed green creature will not be as long as that of the old apple tree, but she still thanked me for saving me.
To remove old trees in a summer cottage, it is necessary not only to have knowledge taken from botanical literature, but to have skills and a good command of the tool.
The preparatory stage includes:
- selection of tools
- security equipment
- assessment of the work to be done and site inspection
Before you start cutting down a tree, it is important to select a suitable tool and check its functionality. If you have a chainsaw and know how to handle it, it makes things easier. When such a technique is not at hand, then a rope, an ax and a hand saw will come in handy, and the help of a partner will not interfere.
To protect yourself from injury, you need to take care of protective equipment. It is recommended to wear thick clothes and shoes, glasses over the eyes, and a helmet or hat on the head.
Then you should carefully examine the area near the tree in order to determine as accurately as possible the place where the cut branch will fall, taking into account the angle of inclination. Since branches can damage nearby buildings and trees in the process of falling, it is better to foresee this moment in advance.
Basic rules of work
Gardeners need to do a pruning procedure every year. There are rules and recommendations that vary depending on the age of the plant. For example, up to five years they form a crown, then they simply remove diseased branches or those that do not grow properly. For more than 20 years, the apple tree is considered old and is given anti-aging pruning.
In the fall, rejuvenation is done for healthy apple trees. If the plant has a lot of sick and dead branches, then there is no point in pruning. Better to replace them with young seedlings. To rejuvenate an old apple tree, first remove large branches and those that interfere with the penetration of sunlight into the inside of the crown. The stumps are not left, the branches are completely removed. If you leave even small stumps, then infection and disease can begin on the cut. After large branches, dry and damaged ones are sawed off.
Rejuvenation will not work in one year. This is done gradually, stretching for 2-3 years. But old and damaged branches are sawed off in the first year. This also applies to improperly growing branches. If you cut a lot at a time, you can destroy the tree.
If the plant has been sawed regularly every year, then it already has a well-formed crown outline. In this case, it is sufficient to do a minor removal once every 2 years. If the plant is neglected, then rejuvenation is done as follows:
- shortening is done by 1/3 of the entire height;
- thin the most thickened areas;
- remove branches that do not grow and do not bear fruit for several years;
- in one year, up to three large branches are cut, the diameter of which is up to 15 cm;
- young shoots are not cut off too much to accelerate growth;
- I use one formation scheme.
These simple rules will allow you to maximally expose the central trunk of the tree, to enable young shoots to grow and bear fruit. In the future, a simple thinning procedure will be sufficient.
Autumn pruning of young apple trees
To a large extent, the pruning technique of a young tree depends on its age. The fact is that in each year of growth, the procedure differs in its nuances:
- In the first year of planting, the seedling may have no branches or it is just a couple of underdeveloped branches. In the first case, it is enough to shorten the tree to 100 cm, in the other, the conductor is cut to the same size, and the lateral shoots growing below 70 cm from the ground are completely cut off. Skeletal branches extending at right angles are shortened to three to five buds from the trunk.
- In a seedling in the second year of growth, no more than five of the strongest and most correctly located branches are left, while it is necessary to shorten them. The central conductor is cut so that it rises only 20 cm above the upper branches. If two conductors are outlined, the weaker one is removed.
- The apple tree is cut to a minimum for three to five years. It is necessary to remove tops, damaged branches, intertwining or growing shoots inside the crown. If the branches begin to gain strength and grow evenly, you do not need to shorten them. You can only prune branches that are ahead of the conductor or are growing in the wrong direction.
Required tools
Regardless of the time of the procedure, you must have the following tools with you: a pruner, a saw, a delimber and a hacksaw. You also need to prepare a stepladder and garden pitch in advance in order to process the cuts. The pruner is used to remove branches with a diameter not exceeding 22 mm. If the branch is at a high height, then a lopper is used. It is also necessary for sawing branches with a diameter of less than 50 mm. The central branch and skeletal branches are cut with a hacksaw or saw. As a rule, their diameter exceeds 50 mm. If not, then a lopper is used.
On a note!
All instruments are well disinfected before and after work. This prevents fungus and various bacteria from entering the cut.
The tools are well sharpened before pruning. If this is not done, then there is a possibility of severe damage to the tree. The wounds will be lacerated and will not heal well.
Formation schemes for fruit trees
When forming an old apple tree, two principles are adhered to: a certain pruning scheme or an arbitrary one, which is based on the basic rules. There are two main options for the schemes according to which the formation of the crown is performed. They are intended for trees that have reached an age of 20 or more years.
Maximum cropping
As a rule, the maximum pruning is carried out in the spring. But this can be done before winter. The procedure is carried out on a sunny and dry day. First, they begin to thin out the crown. To do this, choose a place where there are most branches. The largest and longest branches are removed. Leaving hemp is not recommended to avoid decay and disease of the plant. Places of cuts are treated with paint or garden varnish.
The maximum pruning is carried out only when some natural disasters have occurred. For example, hurricane, hail, freezing rain, severe drought, or very cold winters.
On a note!
At the maximum removal, all dry, damaged branches are removed. Trimmed completely to healthy wood.
Only natural disasters are the reason for this kind of procedure. Otherwise, you can do great harm to the tree. Experienced gardeners do not recommend maximum pruning for beginners, as they unknowingly can remove good shoots, thereby harming the plant. The methodology takes into account the three-tiered principle. According to him, long branches are provided in the apple tree.
When to prune anti-aging
In our three-year scheme, pruning and other rejuvenating procedures are assumed both in very early spring (late February - early March) and in late autumn after leaf fall.
In order for the apple tree to be able to better tolerate pruning, it is carried out during the dormant periods of the tree, when there is no growing season. In February-March, you need to be in time before the start of sap flow, but in severe frosts (below -10 ° C), it is not recommended to cut the apple tree. In October-November, you also need to choose the moment when the leaves have already flown around, but the air temperature has not yet dropped to a critical level.
Sanitary pruning
This type of pruning allows you to remove unnecessary and damaged branches and branches. It is carried out when trees have become ill or after natural disasters. The essence of sanitary pruning is the removal of infected, dead branches. In an old apple tree, these shoots and bitches remove the fruit ring at a time. When filing, only parts of the branch capture a small healthy area. Thus, the recurrence of damage and infection is prevented. If broken branches are found on the tree, they are removed with a pruner. Only the broken part is cut off.
Sanitary pruning is also done in the spring. In this case, the frozen branches are cut, which could not withstand severe frosts in winter. The procedure is carried out after the spring frosts, when their return is already minimal. All cut branches are burned.
Autumn pruning of dwarf apple trees
The care and pruning of a bonsai differ exclusively in the scale of the work carried out. You do not need any special lifting equipment and tools, while the tree trimming scheme will be different.
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The younger the tree, the less pruning it needs. Nuances:
- In the first three years, the branches are shortened by a quarter of the annual growth.
- The branches of a 5-7-year-old dwarf apple tree are shortened by a third and form a crown.
- Trees that have begun to bear fruit worse need to thin out the crown and cut the branches in half.
Pruning a running tree
When rejuvenating heavily neglected trees, other rules are followed, which have their own nuances. These apple trees are pruned every year. The regulatory procedure is carried out in spring and autumn. Thanks to this, the crown will quickly clear of old branches and start up new shoots. To prevent the tree from being exhausted at high fruiting, the number of fruiting buds is reduced.
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In neglected trees, the core of the crown is bare. This was due to the fact that a sufficient amount of sunlight did not penetrate inside. Therefore, first of all, you should thin out the branches, and allow air and light to penetrate to the crown. This will lead to the formation of new buds and shoots.
There are three techniques that are used with neglected apple trees:
- Small cleaning. All shoots are shortened by 1/4 part, leaving the height unchanged.
- Average cleaning. The central trunk is shortened by 2 m, and the branches are cut off by a third of the entire length.
- Intensive cleaning. Large branches are cut in half, transferring them to young shoots. The growth of the tree is reduced.
On a note!
With a very neglected tree in the first year, only all dry and diseased branches are cut out. Thinning and shortening is carried out in subsequent seasons.
Signs of aging apple trees
Signs of aging become visible to the grower after more than 30 years of growth if the plant has been properly grown, or earlier if it has been growing in unfavorable conditions.
So, if the skeletal branches expose themselves, losing fruit-bearing shoots from the beginning to the periphery, and the collection decreases. Further, the growth of the "skeleton of the apple tree" completely stops. Overgrowing shoots and fruits begin to die off en masse.
Possible insignificant yield with fruits of average taste. Also, the tops of branches and shoots begin to die off and a "dry top" appears.
Video of pruning old trees in the fall for beginners
Even a novice gardener can cope with pruning fruit trees in the garden. The main thing is to correctly adhere to the advice and recommendations of experienced colleagues. The video shows step-by-step instructions on how to prune an old apple tree in the fall. A step-by-step hint will allow you not to harm the plant, choose the right branches for removal, and do the job efficiently.
If you follow all the rules and recommendations, you can put in order an old neglected apple tree. Pruning can rejuvenate the tree, increase the quantity and quality of the crop, and prolong the life of the plant. It is important to understand that the rejuvenation process can take several years in a row. Therefore, it is important to be patient in order to get an updated and well-formed apple tree as a result.
