We moved to our dream place in the country about 3 months ago. One of the wonderful things it includes is a 15 tree orchard! Apple, pear, peach, one grape vine and a few maypops even! Quite overgrown and neglected....many small not so good fruits and some broken limbs from too much fruit. About 3-4 years of neglect I believe. I've never done much pruning.....always been a gardener only. I have been reading up on it though and I have a pretty good understanding of what needs to get cut, but one thing I don't quite get is how much is too much trimming? I've read that you don't want to trim more than 1/3 off at once. 1/3 of what....the tree or the offending branch? Does that include dead limbs? I think not...true?

Any and all advice is welcomed.

-- Jason (AJAMA5@netscape.net), September 20, 2001

Answers

1/3 of everything,, cut ALL dead limbs,, all suckers,, and prune accordingly. If you have a good book,, that will tell you where to cut

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), September 20, 2001.

And any of the good-sized wood limb material that's not eaten up with dry rot or disease can be used in the cooker to smoke your grilled foods. Especially keep the apple, pear, and peach limbs where you can cut rounds off the branches and throw one or two pieces on the coals.

-- Claudia Glass (glasss2001@prodigy.net), September 21, 2001.

Be sure to do your heaviest pruning in the winter months when the tree is dormant.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), September 21, 2001.

We also have an overgrown apple tree. I have pruned it the last 2 falls and it is producing more fruit but they're all wormy and kind of pruney looking. I know it probably needs to be sprayed but how do I do that with a tree that is probably 15' tall?

-- Cindy in NY (cjpopeck@worldnet.att.net), September 21, 2001.