IT’S TIME TO TEND TO APPLES
If you haven’t already pruned your apple trees while they’ve been dormant, there’s still time. Removing overcrowded or damaged branches increases airflow and the general health of the tree. I’m pruning young trees back by a third of last year’s growth, with a bud facing the way I want the new branch to be produced; never prune so buds face towards the centre of the tree or this will create a congested problem next year. Don’t get over excited and cut every branch out or reduce them too much or you run the risk of pruning out fruiting spurs and having no fruit. If you have a partial tip-bearing tree such as ‘Bramley’s Seedling’, don’t reduce all the branches as the fruit is produced towards the tip of the branches, hence the name.