How to Prune Young Apple Trees

Prune young apple trees to prepare them for holding fruit and to maintain their shape.

While apple trees need to be pruned for their entire lives, proper pruning is especially vital when they are young. Pruning an apple tree at this point is essential if the tree is to grow strong branches that can support a high yield of quality fruit. Pruning young apple trees also allows air to circulate through the center of the tree, which reduces chances of disease.

Things You'll Need

• Pruning shears

Instructions

1. Cut the tree down to a height of 30 inches immediately after planting in late fall. Make each cut directly above a bud.

2. Select three or four lateral branches that join the tree at wide angles. These will be the scaffold branches on which apples will tend to grow. This part of the process takes place during the late spring after the fall in which you planted the tree.

3. Cut off all the branches except the ones you have chosen to be the scaffold branches.

4. Cut back the central leader and the scaffold branches back by one-quarter of their length. The central leader is the tallest branch at the center of the tree.

5. Remove all except two or three healthy looking shoots from the scaffold branches the next spring using pruning shears. This takes place a year after the previous step.

6. Cut back the remaining shoots by one-quarter of their length that same year.

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 the following spring, and the also the spring after that if the apple tree is a slow grower.

8. Create a second tier of scaffolding by selecting three or four solid branches about 20 inches above the first tier of scaffolding branches.

9. Cut away all of the branches except these scaffolding branches.

10. Cut back the new scaffolding branches by one-quarter of their length.

11. Repeat steps 8 through 10 to create a third tier of scaffolding. At this point, the tree is large enough to prune normally by removing only the dead branches and crossing branches. The tree is now 4 years old.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not choose scaffolding branches directly above one another, as this reduces the health of the upper branches.

• Always remove dead branches whenever you see them, as they stress the tree and drain its resources.

References

• Iowa State University: Pruning and Training Young Apple Trees
• North Carolina State University: Training & Pruning Fruit Trees