Pruning, as I have stated prior, is not a casual exercise. But neither is it one where we need stress and equivocate about the “right cut.” It is an exercise, a practice, an art AND a science that requires the orchardist to be one with the trees and their surroundings. In essence, to be one with nature. If we are to believe the newly founded science of plant communication, then plants do have a method of “getting the word out.” For all the talk of neural networks, semiochemicals1, vibrational frequencies, and Ents - don’t expect that you’re simply going to sit down and have a casual conversation with a tree. But! you can commune with nature, with your trees, and better understand, through a different line of thought, what the tree really needs and desires. As trees get older they need different connections, a different level of interaction with the orchardist, just like any organism - and vice versa. So please don’t let the practical aspects of revitalizing older trees get in the way of starting the day out with a good cup of tea (or cider) and your favorite tree before you get to work.
Revitalizing Older Apple Trees Through Pruning
Revitalizing old apple trees and orchards differs from pruning a newly planted or even mature producing orchard. First, and this is really important, you have make sure the trees are alive. While many trees that have been long neglected and unproductive can be revived, there’s no point in trying to revive a dead tree. If the tree is still alive (or a good portion of it at least), then you should make a careful assessment of its overall health. The trunk, bark, scaffolds should all be alive2. This will help you determine what approach to take and decide how aggressive you want to be. More than likely you’ll want to conduct the revitalization process over a few years rather than doing it all at once so you don’t shock the tree. If not too far gone, you will want to assess the quality of fruit buds, if any, and decide whether to prune for a crop or not. But mostly we’re discussing bringing neglected and abandoned trees back to life. Cropping, or growing apples, comes down the path.
Where to Start When Revitalizing Older Apple trees
Year 1
Make large cuts to remove all dead wood and branches. Making a lot of small cuts will be cumbersome and time consuming, and you may do more harm than good. Focus on the dead, dying, damaged, and diseased branches - the low hanging fruit, no pun intended. Chances are you’ll remove a ton more woody debris than you think by just focusing there. We tend to use these removals (aka debris) for wood chips and ramial mulch to be redistributed into the orchard over time. Larger branches and scaffolds can be used for firewood if they aren’t too far gone (i.e., decomposed). This step can happen at anytime your pruning or in the life of the tree. Even green trimmings can be used as ramial mulch or woodchips.
Year 2
Remove other marginal branches and make cuts that open up canopy. This is done by removing any branches that are severely overlapping and/or creating shade or congestion. You want to create “windows” or openings in the canopy for sunlight and air flow. This will allow for balanced growth, development of healthy fruiting wood, reduced disease opportunities, and overall strengthening of the tree’s structural architecture. It also makes it easier to harvest fruit when that time comes. Just don’t overdo it.
Year 3
This is the year where things really come together. Now you are starting to prune with attention to detail and function. You’re removing watersprouts3 (water-shoots, suckers) as well as pendant wood, and very weak4 wood. You’re leaving only wood that is moderate in lateral growth, all with the aim to achieve approximately 12-14” terminal growth per year and the development of fruiting wood throughout. Now, clean up around the base of the tree to stimulate nutrient release, biological activity, improve soil aeration, and water penetration – all working together to help the tree grow and thrive. Basically act like a chicken or other wild creature that would be “scuffing” around in the duff looking for food, all the while help decompose leaves and branches and aerating the soil. You won’t need to add specific fertilizers since the removal of woody prunings from the tree, the placement of ramial mulch or woodchips, and the simply scuffing up of the ground below will stimulate new growth quite effectively. However, you may want to consider adding biochar, rock-dust (azomite etc.), planting supportive cover crops, or simple compost to entire area beneath the canopy of the tree if the soil environment seems a bit lacking in anything.
Year 4 and beyond
Now that you have (or are working towards) a balanced tree, you can focus on maintaining that balance through proper pruning and fruiting on annual or biannual basis. You will likely need to continue to remove older branches that are getting too old or dying, but mostly this is about pruning appropriate to the season. If it is an “on” year for fruiting, one where you expect a more or less full crop, then you can prune normally. If it is an “off” year for fruiting, then you will want to prune more delicately not to over invigorate the tree and throw it out of balance. How you do this depends on many variables and we’ll get it in due time (just not here right now).
The reality is sometimes trees are just too far gone to try and revive. At best apple trees can survive 200 years, but that’s at the outside and only when thriving in ideal natural conditions. The usual expected lifespan for an apple tree is 80-125 years depending on location and growing climate, conditions, etc. Its important to know when its time to throw in the towel. But more often than not, most trees that have been neglected can be revived and give you many years of production and happiness. The importance of not rushing the process is critical though, as rushing or overdoing the process may require more years to rebalance the situation than the three year process I’ve described here. That said, you may have some trees that haven’t been neglected for long, and in that case you can probably condense the three year process into a two year process. Whatever happens, be one with the tree and be patient before you start cutting lest you find Treebeard looking over your shoulder. Om!
Please refer to previous articles on the Art & Science of Pruning for more on my philosophy of pruning.
WORKSHOP ANNOUNCEMENT
Pruning Workshops - 4 days, 2 locations, all in the Finger Lakes.
Feb 28 and Mar 14 - Hector, NY - mature apple tree pruning
Mar 1 and 15 - Dryden, NY - revitalizing older apple orchards
Time: 10-2 each day.
All dates and times are weather permitting, so we will be in touch if we need to reschedule for any reason.
Registration Information: Cost is FREE, but you must pre-register (space is limited) and I am asking for a minimum suggested contribution of $20 per person to cover nominal costs. You will need to bring your own tools as we’ll only have a limited number of pruning tools available to loan out. And we will talk about sharpening and caring for your pruning tools. I will send further details to everyone that has pre-registered by Feb 24.
To register please email mike(at)knowyouroots.com your name, contact info, and the dates you’re registering for. Since this is a free event it is expected that everyone who registers will show up or cancel with reasonable notice so we can notify others that may be on the wait list.
You can make your contribution when you arrive or (better yet) send ahead of time to Know Your Roots LLC, 6031 Brook Road, Trumansburg, NY 14886. We accept cash, checks, and Venmo.
Semiochemicals are chemical substances that organisms release to communicate with each other. They can be used to monitor and control pests, and can also play a role in plant growth and development.
A simple scrath to the bark will reveal green tissue if the tree is alive. If there is no green tissue, then try in other parts. In older neglected trees there is likely a lot of dead or declining tissue, just as there is likely green tissue to be found and usually, but not always, in the portions that are at the outer periphery of the canopy
strong vertical shoots growing off the upper part of scaffold branches.
less than 6” terminal extension.
There is one nutrient- boron - which is often absent from the root area of old apple trees and sequestered in the trunk wood. I always “wake up” old trees, before working with them, by pouring a few cups of borax around the drip area. One word of caution. Older apple trees that were alive in the open-air nuclear testing era will have measurable radiation in the trunk wood and care should be taken to avoid the smoke when burning.
My experience is that boron often tests low on my Southern Tier soils and it requires periodic replacement as it leaches. I'm beginning to think that there may be benefits to summer time pruning - less water sprout growth being the main benefit? From what I've gathered the time to prune would be from full leaf extension to sometime from mid to late July. A big negative is that that is a busy time of year as compared to the winter window. Thoughts?