HRO BLOG March 2022: Proper Pruning Techniques - Apple Trees, 2nd Year.
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
– Chinese Proverb
Spring always presents itself faster than we would sometimes like here at Hickory Ridge Orchard. The grass begins to grow, apple trees start waking up from their winter dormancy, and new apple trees go about getting planted once that ground thaws out. Needless to say, there are endless tasks that need to be accomplished in a short period of time and it always becomes a dash to the finish line to get them done before those long summer months arrive.
Plantings of over 1000 apple trees, Spring of 2021
In Spring of 2021 we started the transformation of our orchard and kicked off a four year project of renewing and replacing the old orchard that had been planted here back in 1993. An acre block of land to the West of the old orchard marked the spot for our new orchard, thus bringing us new beginnings. The old orchard system was ahead of it’s time back in 1993… it consisted of 16ft between rows and 7ft between trees within the rows. This was considered high density back then and would boast approx. 350-400 trees per acre. Today, the apple tree rootstocks have advanced a little, and so has the strategy. Our new orchard system now has only 12ft between the rows and 3ft between the trees. The apple trees limbs are trained downward position and no branch is to get much larger than 1-2 inches in diameter. This new system, called “Tall Spindle”, has become our new strategy in which we hope now to get approx. 1200 trees per acre. Surprisingly enough, once this new system is planted and established, we not only get a higher production per acre, but it is also easier to manage compared to the older system.
So, loaded with new knowledge in high density orchard planning, we planted our first 1000+ apple trees in this new acre block during the Spring of 2021. In the Spring of 2023 we will remove half of the old orchard and plant another 1500+ apple trees. Finally, in the Spring of 2025, we will remove the rest of the old orchard to plant a final 1500+ apple trees, thus, completing the transformation into our new orchard system! Orcharding is a game of patience, but as the saying goes “All the things that are worth doing, take time”.
Beyond replacing and renewing our own orchard, we have also seen an interest from people within the community wanting to purchase fruit trees for their own backyards. Interestingly enough, at the turn of the 20th century there were very few home owners who did not have their own personal orchard… if you had a little bit of dirt, you typically had a couple of fruit trees. In fact, at that time, it used to be a form of status within the community to have an orchard containing your very own unique apple varieties. It is even believed that there were upwards of 14,000-16,000 different apple varieties in the US by the turn of the century! Today, there are an estimated 7500 apple varieties and only a small percentage of personal orchards compared to those times. However, many believe that the “self-sustainable lifestyle” is starting to make a comeback, especially during times of uncertainty, and we are here to help our customers support that lifestyle if they so choose! But for now, let’s get back to the purpose of this BLOG… PRUNING!
PROPER PRUNING TECHNIQUES
“The number one thing inhibiting backyard growers from being able to grow fruit trees properly is their uncertainty about how to prune those trees. Therefore, this has created an inability to follow through with the pruning process by the grower.”
Diagram showing how close a cut should be to nearest bud during pruning
With much interests from our customers, we decided to start selling fruit trees in Spring of 2021. We started out with 11-12 different apple varieties our first year, and this year we added on 7 different peach varieties. Community support has be wonderful! However, we soon realized that there was a need for us to spread our limited knowledge about proper tree care to our customers. We get many inquiries about planting, fertilizing, & harvesting… but the one question we get asked the most is how we go about pruning. The number one thing inhibiting backyard growers from being able to grow fruit trees properly is their uncertainty about how to prune those trees. Therefore, this has created an inability to follow through with the pruning process by the grower. Pruning a fruit tree stimulates growth, it is as simple as that. If you try to plop the tree into the ground and do nothing beyond that, you will most likely have a tree that becomes stunted and does not grow or produce.
So, with many requests, we have decided to create two short videos on proper pruning techniques in hopes that the backyard grower can become more confident with managing their newly planted fruit trees. The best time to prune is January through the first two weeks in April. After that, you want to wait until early the next year before you make any drastic cuts to the tree… unless it is dead wood, or suckers on the bottom 24” of the tree trunk or water shoots coming from the ground around the the tree - those cuts can happen year around. Watch the videos below to learn more about proper pruning techniques for the 2nd year after planting your apple tree(s).
The above video shows 2nd year pruning techniques for our customers who may have just planted the tree in the ground, but did not do any pruning to the tree the first year.
The below video shows 2nd year pruning techniques for our customers who cut the whole top of the tree off at the knee height as shown in our planting instructions when the tree was purchased.
Thank you for reading our BLOG!
If you enjoyed the videos and/or BLOG please let us know by liking or commenting on our videos on youtube! You can also shoot us an email below if you have any questions pertaining to fruit tree management, we would be happy to help!