Apple Pruning Season - Creating Space for Growth
There is something about strength in the time that we invest in the late stages of the dormant season to cut back, quite literally, some of the growth of our apple tree branches. Some shoots are unyielding and have grown at a pace that will not sustain fruit, others have reached the end of a lifecycle. Some branches point in a direction that is not where we need them to grow, and others might seem healthy, but have reaches a crossroads where their path has intersected with the growth of another branch and we must choose which to nurture.
Of course all of this sounds much like the end of a quiet winter season of self-reflection and calm before with put into gears how we plan to approach our lives and the world around us as it wakes up and becomes busy again with the return of spring. And maybe the synergies and symbolism of pruning apple trees is what feels so rewarding to me.
Pruning is also a form of art. We have the opportunity to sustain fruitful longevity by maintaining our small orchard at home, and that takes the form of physically shaping the trees - a creative endeavor that I enjoy being thoughtful about as I’ve watched our trees grow and change over the years.
When I am on the ladder looking down I think of these first years of my children’s lives lying as babies beneath their branches, holding them up and watching them pick their first apples, playing hide and go seek behind the six inch diameter of the young trunks… The associations with our apple trees are beautiful and have become a part of our home and community.
Our trees have been organic up to this point and we hope to keep them this way. We’ve accepted their bountiful harvest every other year, and are experimenting to see if closer care for them spreads our harvest naturally to a more balanced annual yield.
2025 is supposed to be another big year of apples here and we are eager to see the thick petals of their blooms as a backdrop to our garden, and already yearn for the feeling of friendship and celebration for another neighborhood apple harvest festival. Our first year celebrating the harvest on our country road, neighbors came together to help harvest the last of the apples. We pressed our own cider, hand-churned our own apple-inspired ice cream, and of course I baked two or three pies. Caramel apples were enjoyed, and we labeled our own brown paper apple bags to give out to friends, teachers, and family. But I digress. These thoughts are all in the back of my mind as I tackle our trees come March.
I first learned about apple tree maintenance while working on an apple farm in high school, spending long hours among trees that had been shaped by generations before me. Since then, I’ve felt particularly drawn to apples…their resilience, their quiet cycles, the way they stand through time.
Tending to our McIntosh apple trees now feels like both a responsibility and a return. And while I speak from years of research and experience here myself, there are endless amounts of pruning information available online and at your local library.
Notable institutions with multiple writings on the topic online include this guide from The Ohio State University, and here from Cornell University.
It really is a simple system once you find the rhythm.
Here is my very simple guide to pruning:
Why prune and when to prune: Late winter into early spring before the buds open is the ideal time to shape and strengthen apple trees, setting them up for a season of healthy growth and fruiting. Thoughtful pruning allows more sunlight and air to reach the branches, reducing disease and encouraging better yields. Thinning the apples into spring and summer is a topic that we’ll tackle as the season continues too. If you are north enough that you’re buds have not yet opened, now is the perfect time to start the apple season strong. If you have older apple trees and haven’t felt confident to begin pruning, now is a great time to start. More likely than not, there will be plenty of “low hanging fruit” that will set you up for success in two, three, five years from now.
Materials needed: sharp and clean tree lopper, a ladder tall enough to safely reach the highest cut point with tool in hand. It’s usually cold when pruning, so I prefer my fingerless gloves to maximize control, yet provide warmth as hands will be exposed. We have also had a hard time securing a three-pronged orchard ladder without an exorbitant shipping cost. If you’re able to secure one of these ladders they have a dual benefit: they are generally lightweight and have an easier grip to carry to the trees and their pole and narrow top allows for easier access through the branches to reach the center of the tree. While I would always opt for an orchard ladder, any ladder will work as long as it is on stable ground.
How to prune: With a clean lopper, make clean angled cuts just above another branch with buds. If cut branches become caught in the tree, be mindful to carefully remove the cut pieces without damaging the early buds and new growth that is to be left in tact.
Where to cut:
Dead branches. Anything that has been severely damaged by a storm, is hanging, or has decayed and is no longer producing buds. The less energy the tree places into these branches, the more the tree can dedicate to healthier growth elsewhere.
Branches that cross. Lack of light reaching branches, additional weight, and a lack of space for the fruit to fully form are all reasons that we must choose the healthiest branch and not let branches cross.
Cut with structure in mind. Many pruners follow a system of keeping a central leader, a main thick branch toward the tree’s center as a starting point, which all other branches become shaped around. This method of starting at the center is a good rule of thumb in determinig which branches stay, and which should go.
Allow light in the center of the tree. Branches may not seem overcrowded now, but once the apples and leaves fill in, less and less light reaches the lower branches. Maintaining pockets of light to infiltrate down to the fruit is key in bringing the apples to size.
Remove any suckers or water sprouts, vertical, fast-growing shoots that typically grow without buds at the base of the tree, or on other branches, many near previous pruning marks. Consistent pruning at a small scale can prevent the extent that these occur.
Remove any downward growing branches. We want our branches to be strong to support the weight of the fruit. When deciding between two crossing branches, the healthier branch of often the one not growing in a downward direction.
Evaluate and prune the length of the branches, keeping in mind cuts being made at an angle just after a bud. A light trim at the tips encourages productive branching without overstimulating excessive new growth.
Ideally, ongoing maintenance of fruit trees should lead to easier pruning with consistency and fewer surprises as one becomes more familiar with the growth pattern and year-round health the trees show. Many reference not not prune more than 25% of a tree’s branches in a single year. I have never pushed this limit to speak from personal experience, but I do find joy in the experience of patiently waiting another year to more fully realize a branch growth system that shapes our tree long-term.
Happy pruning, friends. Our blossoms will be here before we know it.
The thrill of our first apple blossoms in spring 2021. A full year of observation and growth before we began pruning. Here I am days before discovering that I was pregnant with our son Christopher.