How To Prune Apple Trees For Better Fruit Production

If you look forward to harvesting fruit from your own apple trees to make jams, pies, and jars of apple butter, the first step is ensuring you have healthy trees. Set your apple trees up for a productive season by pruning them when they are dormant, in late winter or early spring. It’s important to keep shape and size in mind so you can access all parts of your tree to pick the fruit, but you should also look for weakened or dead branches and work to thin out the rest so that the tree receives maximum airflow and sunlight. Here’s how to prune apple trees to ensure a sweet fall harvest.

Why Pruning Is Necessary

Apple trees need regular pruning for size management, improved fruit production and quality, and strength to help them hold up to harsh weather and fight pests. By getting rid of weak or dead branches and suckers, the tree can focus its energy on healthy new limbs and fruit. Thinning out branches will prevent leaves from shading fruit, which may not ripen fully if there’s not enough sun.

When To Prune Apple Trees

The best time to prune apple trees is in late winter or early spring, once the coldest part of the season has passed and before new growth begins. Pruning while the tree is dormant instead of while it’s actively growing enables cuts to heal quickly and causes the tree less stress. It’s also easier to see the structure on a tree with bare branches. If you prune fruit trees at the wrong time, you may end up with damaged branches or a disappointing harvest.

How To Prune Apple Trees

For pruning, you’ll need clean, sharp pruning shears and loppers. Use a thinning cut to remove entire limbs at the branch collar, where the branch meets the main trunk or a larger branch. Clean cuts will help the wounds heal.

Removed Damaged And Diseased Branches

Check the tree for damaged or diseased branches. Discoloration, brittleness, and growths can indicate problem branches, which need to be removed.

Remove Unwanted Branches

Crossing branches can rub against others and cause wounds where pests and disease can enter. Remove any suckers growing from the base of the tree, upright shoots (called water sprouts) growing along the trunk or branches, or branches or shoots growing toward the tree trunk. These weak growths will not produce fruit.

Thin The Canopy

Open the tree’s canopy by removing overly leafy or crowded inner branches to improve airflow and increase sun exposure for inner branches.

Shape The Tree

An apple tree should have a pyramid shape, with a central leader from which other branches grow. Keep this shape in mind during pruning and take note of any branches that are spaced too closely together. An apple tree also should be a manageable size to make picking the fruit easier. Heading cuts are used to remove only part of the branch to shorten it and promote new side branching.

When Not To Prune

• Fall or Early Winter: Don’t prune apple trees in the fall or early winter, because it can encourage new growth that can become damaged when exposed to freezing weather.
• Summer: Summer is not the best time for pruning an apple tree and should be done minimally in order to remove any developing fruit.
• Overly Rainy Periods: It’s important not to prune an apple tree during wet periods because the moisture can allow fungus and bacteria to enter wounds from pruning cuts more easily. It also obstructs the healing process for the wounds, which can increase the risk of infection or rot.
• During Fruiting or When In Full Leaf: You also shouldn’t prune the tree when it is fruiting or in full leaf to avoid stressing it. Avoid removing more than 25 percent of branches at a time because you may see a rapid increase of water sprouts that don’t produce fruit.