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Enjoy ALL the pruning !

50% removel, I trust that tree does not go into juvenile state. If she flowers & bears fruit, you should be ok.

My apple tree is about 7yrs old, 25'tall,beautifully shaped but, i cant even reach the lowest branches. Is there any way i can force it to grow lower branches that i can reach? Or is it too late

Fabulous! Excellent! Terrific demo. Well conveyed! Excellent, knowledgeable expert! AI can't do it as well. Craft is art. Learn from the best artist. 23:23

Not to question your expertise, I'm just a bit confused. Had seen somewhere that we shouldn't cut more than 1/3 of a tree off in a single year. What are your thoughts? This looks like more than 1/3.

Very informative, thank u

fantastic stuff, thanks Jim

It turned out a beautiful looking tree in summer after the pruning.

We have been using the same horse drawn manure spreader for twenty years and it is still in great shape. I think that is because we age and turn our cow manure and seldom spread fresh manure. We stockpile the manure all winter in a big plie with a ramp and wheelbarrow . We turn it twice with a tractor bucket sometime during in the summer. By autumn it is very close to compost and much easier to spread. It also finishes breaking down completely , very quickly, once on the fields.

Nice work. I always scalp them and watch them come back

This is great! I’ve been looking for a video like this for years now. Let’s save our old neglected fruit trees! Thank you !!!

Firstly, Although I'm more than qualified to comment on tree care, I choose who I criticise. The rules that govern what's good as opposed to what is bad are not in how well a tree forms shoots but in how well wounds callus. No matter what cut a pruner makes, a wound surface ALWAYS begins decaying, and the diameter of the cut surface is the diameter of the decay. (www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/40899) The principle behind limbs that collapse is wood decay. Only when people, including registered arborists, stop making large wounds will injuries to innocent people be reduced. So, this rule that I call "No Harm Pruning", while straightforward to apply, is too hard for most who prefer to do what you are doing, which is believing that large wounds are alright to make. Richard Haris wrote a book called "Arboriculture", which you can buy secondhand online at Amazon. I encourage you and all your followers to prune their trees better, starting when the tree is a sapling. Best of luck - you don't need luck; you need better practice on tree care.

I was pretty skeptical when you snowed up with a bucket of bow saws because as an arborist, I consider them to be completely obsolete and useless however, skipping to the end to see the results of your work I'd say you did a really fine job of pruning that old apple tree.

How do I get a hold of you guys? I'm MSU alum and would run my own fruit tree pruning business. I've spent thousands of hours working for the biggest orchard in SE Michigan and would very much like to get in touch.

Stop man you kill the tree

#1 rule taught to me by a skilled arborist: Trim the tree, not the branch.

how did this tree manage to grow in a MSU field without someone either removing or tending to it? I imagine there must be random trees coming up all the time that they remove?

A joy to watch! A ‘fine’ fruit tree pruner myself, having pruned around 20 trees just yesterday ..I had to check what CZcams’s recently posted … and it took me till yours to feel satisfied 🙂 Loved the commentary, and a job well done.

Thank you for a very nice field trip to the apple tree. There have been many changes in the fruit growing methods in the past hundred years. When you drive past a commercial apple orchard, most of the trees are not “shade tree pretty”. They are fruit trees, developed and later pruned to be healthy and productive. It is the flush of water sprouts that come from this type of corrective pruning, that causes some people to lose interest, or think that they can’t do it. As you stated, this is only the beginning of the reclamation process.

I’d love to see the tree and 1 years after.

Great video, thank you! I just bought a property with 7 fruit trees. I'm a completely bigginer to fruit trees and this was immensely helpful.

Wouldn't it be interesting to revisit this tree a few more times? Would love to see what kind of apple it is!

looks like more than 40 percent. no?

Love the insight into how an experienced grower deal with a tree that needs to be helped to a new mode. I am now on to next video what happens the next year. I learn a lot.

that hurts

We just bought a lot with an old apple that looks much like that. Now I have an idea what to do. Thank you.

The Google Earth Map still shows the unpruned tree. How is doing now? Thanks for posting. Just did 2 days of pruning Ida Red apple trees at an Apple Orchard on Lake Ontario. Fire Blight on some of the trees. I see why they call it that. Looks like it was burned and its black. Love volunteering there.

You pruned to much off

You have wrecked this tree

Excellent information! Exactly why I clicked on this video! Thank you! Spot on and to the point. I have pruned my old trees for years, but stopped 5 years ago. My main concern was over pruning. Looks like that is not an issue [within reason].

I agree shud not remove more than twenty present on this tree

5 minutes showing off your saws, are you kidding man?

Very nice work!

TOO MUCH, TOO MUCH!!

I have large balls where new growth grows every year, straight up. What do I do for those?

Excellent tutorial, much needed

Thank you. God Bless, stay safe and warm.

Thank you for this excellent video! My friend has many fruit trees that have not been pruned in many years. Thanks to you, I will get started pruning with confidence.

Thank you for great pruning presentation, tools you have used and all wise advices . I am going to do similar pruning old apple trees in my garden in February/ March when weather will be sunny , not wet.

Is there a spring image of this apple tree in the USA.?

Many plants like a good prune. if this was not the case we would not have to mow our lawns as much

DeWalt makes a really nice 8-inch electric chainsaw. I used it on our trees for the first time this year and it was AWESOME for speeding up the big cuts !!!!

How does the tree respond to this? Will it send up water sprouts everywhere? How will that effect fruiting?

I really enjoy watching this video. Please do another follow up to see how it turns out in two years or so.

Would love to see the tree now, one year later.

What happened to taking 40% at the most, you’ve gone way further, 😢

Thank you for making this video! It's exactly what I needed for my new (neglected) apple trees. You were really easy to understand, and your video was clear too.

I would have just topped it. Strange people think this is extreme. I had 10 50 year old apple trees I cut them down to 3 foot stumps and topworked choice scions into them last year. They are doing amazing

Really enjoyed this, I have a large old tree coming to do for my Nephew, you helped me have some thought I did not have, thank you

We were taught to not “whip the tree into shape” considering it’s probably weak, diseased and old. Only remove 15-25% the first year, and subsequent years because the tree can go into shock and die. There’s nothing wrong with making large cuts as the tree will seal the wound very quickly. But yeah, you took off easily 75%, which might work for this tree but is not the norm for such old trees.