restoring old apple trees part 1
Posted by admin on Oct 26, 2009
Julia and I had the opportunity on February 14th 2009 to help some friends who had moved into a house with a mature garden and some old fruit trees, mainly apples and 2 pears, which were somewhat overgrown. I am putting up half a dozen videos to show roughly what we did. What to do with an old fruit tree in a garden which is not ideally situated, may be diseased, and has not been pruned for years is probably the question I am most often asked. There is a good section on restoring a neglected …
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Many thanks Stephen, this will prove very useful for the apple tree in my garden.
Thanks – another great series of videos! One question for you: you mentioned watershoots some of which will be kept and some got rid off. What is the general rule there? How many watershoots – and which ones – do you keep? We have bought a house with four old apple trees and while the basic shape and branches are right (I can throw my hat through them!) there are hundreds of watershoots. Thanks!
Thanks Jarborra
re water shoots, how many to leave is a matter of judgement. You will do little harm by removing almost all of them. think in terms of the space they are growing into.
leave just a few, widely spaced, watershoots. I can’t give you a precise formula, in my pruning videos I try to give a feel for what is a sense of balance. There is no substitute for getting a fee for it.
all the best
Thanks for the quick reply!
Very good stuff. I’m hoping to have a go at our pear and plum orchard before this long winter ends and I have to stare at unkempt trees for a whole additional year.
Thanks mroconnell
WARNING-DO NOT PRUNE YOUR PLUMS JUST YET!!!
apples and pears can be pruned any time from leaf fall to bud burst, but plums are very prone to serious fungal diseases which enter through wounds, so it is generally agreed that you should not prune your plums until they start to grow again in the spring, so any wounds heal quickly.
pruning of plums differs somewhat from apples and pears. we prune our plums in April when leaves appear. Will post a video in April
sorry, getting
a FEEL not
a FEE !!!!
nice one!
Very nice evaluation and observations!
I like the statement “worst thing one can do is not to plant an apple tree” excellent
Thank you for these videos. Reminds me of when I moved into our house.
Question: I noticed you mentioned the new growths coming out from the bottom of the tree. On our apple trees, I dug them out. I’m planning on grafting them to a scion. Is it to late to cut the scion? It’s April 1st and the trees are budding.
Thanks!
P.S.- Is the new growth from the base of the tree called suckers? If not, what are suckers?
Thanks
how many watershoots? you could probably reduce this to a mathematical formula, but I use my experienced eye and make a judgement. It all depends n a sense of balance. I remove most of the watershoots and leave a few which are well spaced in the context of the overall shape of the tree.
growths coming up from or near the base are suckers, and they are clones of the rootstock. you can dig them up and plant them out and graft scion wood and get new trees from them.
posted already above in error.
Hi macr
growths coming up from or near the base are suckers, and they are clones of the rootstock. you can dig them up and plant them out and graft scion wood and get new trees from them.
you are taking a risk by cutting scion so late, it woudl ave been better to have done this earlier, but there is little harm in trying, you can only fail and it won’t kill the transplanted sucker/stock. No harm in trying
Would it be wise to put the scion in the refridgerator a day or two to “hibernate” it before trying to graft now?
Never tried this, it might make sense. If I were doing it i would prefer to concentrate on very good joins and ties. you can only try.
No disrespect, but i am always being asked questions along the lines of ‘ i can;t do this the right way, how do you think I can get away with doing ot the wrong way,’
best to plan ahead. But try, no harm done adn you may well succeed.
Great videos – I am going to try and watch them all when I get the time. Now my wife is hassling me to go to church so have to pack up the two children into the car. Very interesting and you seem to be very knowledgeable, I use the RHS guide to fruit trees but much easier wathcing on youtube ref. what to do.