Being new to all this, I have a question. I have a 4 year old apple tree which is very healthy but very "full" and needs thinning down a bit. My question is can I prune this tree at this time when we have temperatures running in the mid 20's C ? I'm not sure but perhaps I have to wait for the fall season to do any trimming. Thanks for any suggestions that you may have.
Doug
Hi dougbthom,
You can prune an apple tree at any time of the year......but...the difficulty about pruning in high summer on a standard tree is the damage to fruit and leaf that you can do while removing timber and it can be difficult to see exactly which wood to remove.
True summer pruning on trees such as as esplalier and cordons etc, is done quite late in the season once the bourse (lead) buds have shut down and is mainly light tipping rather than heavy timber cutting.
I would leave your tree until it has shut down for the winter and then you can see much better as to what needs removal.
You can prune an apple tree at any time of the year......but...the difficulty about pruning in high summer on a standard tree is the damage to fruit and leaf that you can do while removing timber and it can be difficult to see exactly which wood to remove.
True summer pruning on trees such as as esplalier and cordons etc, is done quite late in the season once the bourse (lead) buds have shut down and is mainly light tipping rather than heavy timber cutting.
I would leave your tree until it has shut down for the winter and then you can see much better as to what needs removal.