Tom theAppleMan

Organic Fruit Tree Nursery

Harsh Pruning

This is the tree before pruning……..

  ……and this is the tree after

It’s very harsh but in this particular case was necessary. I wouldn’t normally advocate pruning a tree like this but sometimes it’s the best option.

This tree didn’t have any formative pruning carried out. As a result it was growing in one plane (rather like a fan) and was difficult to mow around.

Pruning a tree in sucha manner is fine as long as the pruning is followed up properly over the following 3-4 years.

During the next growing season the tree will put out a mass of growth, which will need reducing to 3-5 stems in late summer.

Those stems will then need pruning in the winter to create a new framework. This process will need to be repeated until a new head is formed.

I’ll keep track of the progress of this tree in order to show the pruning process.