Apple tree pruning renewal style
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- čas přidán 9. 09. 2024
- renewal pruning of an established apple tree, variety Sunset, a 20 year old tree on MM106 rootstock. It was trained a an open centre dwarf bush, currently somewhat overgrown, hence the slightly more aggressive than usual pruning. i will return to this tree later i the year to show what effect pruning has had on it. I may leave another one nearby unpruned for compare and contrast. NB this is a FINE tooth Silky Gomtaro 300mm pruning saw, the one I recommend (no financial interest).
I felt so comfortable, as a scared novice, listening to your advice. Forgot you couldn’t hear me as I asked questions. Thank you for sharing your expertise. I will tend my dwarf Bramley with care, even invest in the recommended pruning tool. Thank YOU.
Wonderful! Living in the humid Southeast of America, I am pruning in the same open style to let in air and light. Thank you for a great tutorial.
Stephen, thanks for another great post. We're in Arizona, USA and grow very different varieties, but use the same techniques for pruning our desert apple trees here. Thanks again!
Great video Stephen you've given me the confidence to tackle mine this winter
I bought one of those Silky saws based on your recommendation. It is certainly a pleasure to use, though ironically was a bit hard to find here in Japan... It is nice that the blades can easily be replaced when they do finally get blunt.
Caleb Fuller: Good news my friend. There is a file for sharpening the "tri edge" tooth pattern that Silky and several other manufacturers now make. Look online. You will find the thin Feather File, and instructional videos.
Just taken delivery of a Gomtaro 270-13 pruning saw. Many thanks for your excellent recommendation Stephen, it's a real joy to use. I would thoroughly recommend this hand saw to other apple tree pruners.
Always informative and worth watching. Thanks.
I just bought a Silky Gomtaro Professional, 270mm 8 teeth/ 30mm. It will now be my fruit tree pruning saw, I'm very pleased with it after it's first use yesterday. Thank you for the recommendation. If you ever have time to do a video on routine maintenance on the silky it would be very helpful. Your video on maintenance of the felco secateurs is my go-to reference before my end of year clean up.
Think he said he replaces it every 2 or 3 years. With the rugby season on the horizon I imagine Steve won't have time for sharpening tools!
Great to catch up with your channel again. In fact I referenced your teachings in a recent video of mine as I attempted pruning my orchard. I remembered your 'chucking a hat through the middle' technique.
Fantastic videos. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Always love your videos Stephen. I now have four apple trees pruned to open centers in my back yard and apply every pruning technique I’ve learned from watching you prune yours and I also now have an Orleans Reinette and a Kidd’s Orange Red. We’ll see how they do in a backyard near Saint Louis Missouri. Cheers!
PS if buying a Silky saw to prune fruit trees, be sure to order the Gomtaro 300 mm in FINE, the COARSE tooth one is less suitable for cutting branches much under 2cm. I got my last lot from Kinves and Tools, who seem to provide a very decent service. www.knivesandtools.co.uk/en/searchresults.htm?query=gomtaro+saw
I like your open center method and have employed it. I could get more out of central leader dwarf M27 but love the more traditional, just feels better! Great quote, been using it since reading your book.
*M26
Thanks, the open centre method is quite simple and it works well for the amateur grower, but is not 'mine'. According to all the old books we read it was the industry standard method for much of the 20th century. It is true that dwarf pyramid pruning, and then the Dutch spindlebush style, are more productive per acre and are the new industry standard, but they are fiddlier to look after and require a lot of posts and wires. this is all covered in my e-book 'Tales From and English Orchard' on Amazon Kindle.
Thanks lve learned a lot from your videos ... keep up the great work.
Just what I needed to know, problem is, I cannot bring the video out to my trees, will have to watch the video immediately before I go to work.
Cheers
Hi Stephen, we need some new orchard updates + ramblings please :-)
hope you and your family are well,
best regards, Steve
I see the grass is dead around your trees what do you do to kill the grass
Good job!
Thanks for another nice video. I have made a video in which I have mentioned about scions gifted by you. I have also added some words about your channel, your research and also your e-book. I want to put a link as well hoping you will not raise any objection. Thanks for all your favours again.
Nicely done pruning tutorial, Stephen, I believe I heard you say that you working with trees that are on M106 rootstock which I have started to work on myself now, there are currently 38 1/4 inch calipers of the M106 growing in my nursery.
Look forward to trying this on my own orchard this autumn. Hope you are trying your hand at truffle spores with your hazelnut trees.
Your channel is a gold mine! How many years is the lifespan of a tree like this? Or better, how many years is it productive?
Do you mulch the trees with the wood chips that you create from the branches that you prune in place?
No. We burn the wood (big bits in our wood burning stove, medium size for barbecues etc) and return the ash to the earth.
I hunt an old abandoned apple orchard here in Wisconsin, USA. The trees are well over grown but have still produced some fruit over the past 5 years or so but are producing less and less all the time.
Can you direct me to any videos you have on pruning neglected apple trees?
Thank you.
I've been training to keep horizontal branches and eliminating upright growth. Seems like we are singing from different hymnals.
Mike Betts You’re not wrong Mike. I am removing branches that have bowed down below the horizontal due to weight of fruit. Principles are all, style may vary somewhat.
Great video! Years back I read about a method to lower branch tips called festooning, I believe...I didn't really understand it but it seemed like the branches were looped? Is that similar to weighing branches down or a completely different method?
You should use and make some bulgarian stubs
Do we need to seal pruned areas,
I have semi-dwarf trees with an open center. Do you ever cut your main branches back to the stem? One branch per year to grow a new main stem. The reason that I'm saying this is my trees are getting wider and wider. Some of my trees are now to close to each other. Do you see any downside of cutting one limb back to the main truck? I noticed that you cut the end of some branches and retain the fruiting spurs. Would you do this if the tree was tip bearing?
Stephen Kutney Yes I do cut some major limbs right out back to the trunk. I will post a video showing the whole orchard after this year’s hard ‘Catch up’ renewal pruning.
A sucker will replace the limb bend it down to 50 or 45 degrees to get it to fruit
Rootstock
Apple?
Quick question. I read that if the cut is larger than a pence, one should consider using a tree paint to seal the wound. So, some of your cuts (especially the last one, the one focused on at the end) fit this profile. What is your take on this?
Tudor Simion . Not to speak for Stephen, but having watched a lot of his videos now i think he is of the opinion that painting it doesnt make much difference. I think he used to do it and now doesnt and hasn't noticed a difference. Perhaps he will clarify for us :) best wishes man
There is debate about whether or not it's worth using wound sealant. We used to do it, but stopped. I haven't seen any difference.
Cut back to wood with fruit buds cutting back to first year wood with no fruit buds initiate to much growth upright and not set grout buds
Hi Stephen, I perfomed my first grafts, using cleft graft, at the beginning of march as per you advice. I am as yet to see any results. Is it worth waiting or should I accept defeat now?
Get yourself some budwood in mid July and try T budding your rootstock it's very easy.
Are you sending out Pencils this year?
.Nie wiem co paple ta łachudra. Braki w garderobie, nawet rękawice z różnych domów mody. Znikła czapka , znikają spodnie. Zamiast cięcia - urzynanie. Biedne, zapuszczone drzewa, podobne do gospodarza!
Stephen, what planting distance you have on mm106 rootstocks?
Thanks
Andris Becs That’ a big question. We made mistakes by initially planting 9 feet apart, which was too close and we ended up removing alternate trees. Probably 10 or 12 feet apart would have been better, but it depends on the quality and depth of your soil, the variety, and how you intend to manage your orchard.
I have considered the issue of rootstocks, tree shapes and planting distances in my kindle book ‘Tales From an English Orchard’.
@@stephenhayesuk ok. Thank you
Hello Stephen I'm interested to know if you have changed your stance on whether it is possible to graft apple Scion wood to another genus? I remember from an old video of yours you mention it is not possible...I have recently grafted 30 apple wood scions on to a magnolia tree after being convinced to give it a go by somebody who swears that it is possible and recommend Hawthorn has being the best so I wanted to put it to the test as the Magnolia was a particularly poor example...and to my surprise they look as though they are taking. 😀... should I hold out much hope? Is it too early to celebrate?
Hi Russel. It’s not about my stance, it’s the biology, and I don’t see that changing. I hear you can graft pears on to hawthorns, but haven’t tried it. Not apples though. Please let us know how you get on.
Stephen Hayes hello Stephen and thank you for replying I will keep you in the loop.... I learnt how to graft from watching your amazingly informative videos and so far I have over a 90% success rate. The grafts are nice and tight so fingers crossed they keep 😁 ps I am utterly captivated by apple trees and grafting now so if you ever want a volunteer to help you I would love to help out... I live locally 🍏🍎🍐🥑
Mm106 you mean ?
Another great video. How do we mail you, Stephen?
What brand of saw do you use
Clifton Jackson See below.
What where when why how who, if you missed it.
Jai Kisan HP
Which is the email address of stephen?
I wish I could send this guy a pic of my tree..I'm going to screw it up . I know I am it's a semi dwarf called blondee ..it's 6 years old ..not that big of a tree but I have 2 tops in it . idk weather to take it on all at once or over a couple years. Right now it looks like ah 4 year old autumn blaze maple. I want apples so dang bad.. Great video by the way. Im just to chicken shit . I feel I'm going to kill the tree
375 like
Laterals
Well he cut them all out now
ice age on way mate, frost n snow this weekend, your crops wont do well this year.
That depends. Hard frost on blossom is bad. We had a severe problem in 1997, and 2017. Maybe again in 2037?