With proper care, apple trees will provide a wonderful and healthy harvest every year. Apple trees are nice to have, but yearly pruning is necessary to keep the trees healthy so that they will look good and continuously produce quality apples. I am a Jamaican native and Maine resident living with my wife in Washington, Maine. I learned how to prune apple trees in New York 30 years ago and have bee
n pruning every winter since. I am currently pruning for several orchards, and individual homeowners in Maine. I charge based on the tree's size and condition.
• PRUNING MEANS BETTER QUALITY APPLES which will increase the value of your crop.
• Pruning trees correctly improves the fruit quality because it allows sprays, fertilizers, and sunlight to reach the apples.
• Fruit trees need to be pruned every year in order to maintain shape and production.
• Pruning increases fruit size because it decreases the amount of energy the tree has to use to support the extra branches and leaves AND reduces the number of fruit buds. A tree that is not pruned, will have a lot of wood with weak fruit buds.
• Pruning encourages the replacement of old branches with new ones.
• Pruning makes harvesting easier
• Good pruning and training helps make healthier trees.
• Pruning ability improves with experience. Excellence in fruit tree pruning comes only from years of experience.
• Sticking with one proffesional tree pruner will ensure consistency. Call or e-mail me to arrange for a free estimate. call 1-207-845-2907 or
e-mail me at - [email protected]. Whether you want to restore the old apple trees in your backyard, shape recently planted trees, or increase the fruit health and production of your orchard, the most helpful thing for your fruit trees is annual pruning. A properly pruned apple tree should produce better quality, larger fruit and live a longer, healthier life. It is important to prune when all of the tree's energy is still stored in the roots and the stems. The best time to prune is November through April before the warm weather. You can prune at any time of year, but cutting after spring may cause disease or excessive loss of sap. The owners of commercial apple orchards usually do their pruning in the winter. This helps the tree get a healthy start because the winter pruning cuts will have a chance to begin healing before the bugs and disease of warm weather arrive. Incorrect pruning can stress the tree if it causes 'bleeding' where the rising sap weeps from the tree. It is not wise management to neglect trees for years and then prune them heavily.
