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Hi, I'm looking for some advice on cutting back an apple tree.
The tree came with our house, which we bought a couple of years ago. It's a Golden Delicious, I don't know how old but I'd guess it's been in for between five and ten years, and there is no indication from the tag (from Morrisons) that it's supposed to be a dwarf/patio variety. I have no real emotional connection to it, but it does have very tasty (small) apples and I don't particularly want to get rid of it.
It was sort of espaliered, but not properly trained - basically just tied to the wall and fence that you can see behind it in the pic. Any forward- or backward-facing branches have obviously been removed to keep it sort of flat to the wall. We had to unattach it and pull it forward because the people behind were planning to take down the wall and fence. In the end that didn't happen, but I want to take the opportunity to repot it and maybe cut it back a bit. Unfortunately it's starting to come into leaf, but I really want to get it done before the summer. If we miss a harvest it's not the end of the world.
My plan (such as it is) is to cut it back a bit and when I repot it try to encourage it to be more upright (it's leaning back at about 30 degrees from vertical) and maybe ultimately to be a bit more compact. This might not be the best thing to do, but I want it to be a bit more in a natural shape. As I say I'm not convinced it's supposed to be a container/patio tree but it generally does pretty well - blossoms and fruits pretty well.
I'd be grateful for any advice about how best to cut it back at this stage. I know I shouldn't take more than 25% of the canopy, but I don't know enough about trees - is there a way to encourage it to grow more lower branches so it's not as open and sprawling?
Thanks for any help!
The tree came with our house, which we bought a couple of years ago. It's a Golden Delicious, I don't know how old but I'd guess it's been in for between five and ten years, and there is no indication from the tag (from Morrisons) that it's supposed to be a dwarf/patio variety. I have no real emotional connection to it, but it does have very tasty (small) apples and I don't particularly want to get rid of it.
It was sort of espaliered, but not properly trained - basically just tied to the wall and fence that you can see behind it in the pic. Any forward- or backward-facing branches have obviously been removed to keep it sort of flat to the wall. We had to unattach it and pull it forward because the people behind were planning to take down the wall and fence. In the end that didn't happen, but I want to take the opportunity to repot it and maybe cut it back a bit. Unfortunately it's starting to come into leaf, but I really want to get it done before the summer. If we miss a harvest it's not the end of the world.
My plan (such as it is) is to cut it back a bit and when I repot it try to encourage it to be more upright (it's leaning back at about 30 degrees from vertical) and maybe ultimately to be a bit more compact. This might not be the best thing to do, but I want it to be a bit more in a natural shape. As I say I'm not convinced it's supposed to be a container/patio tree but it generally does pretty well - blossoms and fruits pretty well.
I'd be grateful for any advice about how best to cut it back at this stage. I know I shouldn't take more than 25% of the canopy, but I don't know enough about trees - is there a way to encourage it to grow more lower branches so it's not as open and sprawling?
Thanks for any help!
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