pruning massive, old, apple trees...?

Latest Articles

pruning massive, old, apple trees...?

Downsizer Forum Index -> Grow Your Own

Author

Message

James

Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 2866
Location: York

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 08 3:57 pm Post subject: pruning massive, old, apple trees...?

I have 4 apple trees in my garden. They're probably 70 years old (age of house). The hight of the brambleys is about 5-6m to the top of the canopy. At this hight, I cant safely prune the canopy, let alone harvest the apples. The vigerous growth up in the top of the canopy reduces vigour in the lower branches.
Most of the trees have some degree of rot due to being mistreated for many years (one tree now has a woodpecker living in the rotten trunk).
Two trees have absolutely no branches below about 2.5m

So, do I:

1) leave the tops alone & prune the bits I can reach?
2) cut anything off that I cant reach to encourage new growth in areas I can reach? This would result in very empty, bashed around trees for a few years
3) bite the bullet and replace the old trees with new dwarfing root stock varieties? (the desert apples are tasty but don't store well at all- I think these could be replaced with a better variety.)

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 08 4:00 pm Post subject:
Dunno if this is of any help to you, but its an excellent read in itself: https://www.downsizer.net/Projects/Growing_Food/Renovating_old_fruit_trees/

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 08 4:02 pm Post subject:
I'd renovate a couple (we have an article on the subject) and qet rid of the others, you'll be able to plant quite a few in the space taken by 2 huge apple trees. One thing that may be an issue is replant disease, you normally need to rest the soil for 5-10 yrs before replanting, or sterilise the soil (there's a rape you can sow that does this apparently)

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 08 4:15 pm Post subject:
Might be able to speed up the re-plant period if you solarize, maybe turn up the soil and solarize again (lather rinse repeat as needed?) then turn in lots of compost, check pH to see if you need to lime and pop your new tree in the fall or the next spring

James

Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 2866
Location: York

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 08 4:21 pm Post subject:

cpg03- what do you mean by solarize? expose to the sun?

The problem with doing anything to the soil (replacing is suggested elsewhere) is that the root zone of these trees will be HUGE- probably best part of my garden. So replacing or even turning this amount is going to be tough.

Just checked on RHS website- it looks like M27 rootstock (dwarfing) is more resilient to replant disease than other older rootstocks.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 08 4:27 pm Post subject:
OrangePippin knows more about rootstocks, he might be able to advise on that. Has anybody here successfully planted in a similar situation?

James

Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 2866
Location: York

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 08 4:36 pm Post subject:

tahir wrote:

OrangePippin knows more about rootstocks, he might be able to advise on that

...and possibly which desert apples do well in our area (OP lives close by...)

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 08 4:37 pm Post subject:

solarizing is covering the soil with clear sturdy plastic and letting it fry! Works just as well as all the nasty soil sterilizers, though it takes some time, and only affects the top bit of the soil, which is why you might want to turn it over and do it again. Just like any soil sterilizing it kills the good with the bad, so you definitely want to add in really good compost when you've done it, and maybe toss in a couple earthworms, etc...

You could maybe just sterilize the soil where you'd be thinking of tossing in the new trees (with a good bit of margin larger than the size of the hole you're planning on digging)

I'm curious about the potential of using that mustard for soil sterilization, but I'm afraid of then having mustards popping up all over.... Solarization gets rid of weeds, and weed seeds if you leave it to do its thing for enough sunny days, and is the way my grandmother managed to garden into her 90s

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 08 4:38 pm Post subject:
OP posted some useful info here: https://forum.downsizer.net/about25529.html&highlight=apple

	Downsizer Forum Index -> Grow Your Own	All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

View Latest Posts