![]() ![]() Those watersprouts, putting all their energy into growth, tend to be slow to bear fruit. Isn’t enthusiasm good for a plant, a sign of health? Some, yes. Next, I looked for overly enthusiastic, vertical sprouts, sometimes called watersprouts, or suckers. Needs for dramatic cuts is minimized for a tree that’s well-trained in its youth. ![]() I shortened downward drooping limbs to the point where they were horizontal. This was of larger limbs that were too close together, drooping downward, or leaving the trunk at too sharp an angle, the latter making for weak unions. I started my pruning with the more dramatic cuts, of which thankfully few were needed. Realizing that only five percent of an apple tree’s flowers need to go on to become fruit for a full crop was soothing. Each of those buds that were about to pop open housed five flowers, and there were many buds. ![]() With the number of fruits reduced, the tree can channel its energy - evidenced by size and flavor - into those that remain. Left to its own devices, an apple tree tends to set too many fruits, too many for best quality, that is. I kept reassuring myself that removing blossoms and, hence, fruit was one of the reasons to prune an apple tree. What was making me wince was all the blossoms I was removing, blossoms that, after pollination, could swell into luscious apples. Pruning was late this year, not that it would matter to the trees, but I had hoped to get it done a month or more ago, before the vegetable garden started beckoning. My apple trees needed pruning and they were loaded with buds showing pink and about to pop open. I winced with almost every snip of the pruning shears yesterday. ![]()
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