travelover
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2007
- Messages
- 14,328
My advice is to watch a bunch of YouTube videos. It is not practical to seal all the cuts, but one should clean the tool with alcohol between trees.We moved to a new property and have to prune a small orchard of a dozen apple trees. Any tips/tricks to impart ? Do you seal the cuts ? If so, what with ?
The gist of it is to cut off all vertical watershoot branches, all branches that grow inward the center of the tree, all crossed branches and lowest branches that grow downward at a 45 degree angle. In total, it is best not to cut off more than 1/3 of all the branches in one pruning or this spurs excessive waterprouts the next spring. Trim in the winter during dormancy. I did not thin the apples last year which was a mistake. In June some will fall by themselves and this is a sign to thin them more aggressively. There is a YouTube video for that, too.