We recently inherited an old house and the surrounding land. On it is a winesap apple tree that was planted when my husband was born, in 1970. Over the next two days, I am looking to prune this venerable old guy. My concerns are for one, that I am an utter noob at pruning. For two, the tenants that lived here for several years before we got here neglected it utterly. It is now an 18 ft tall and about 25 ft wide tangled mess. For three, it is a treasured heirloom, and my honor requires that I do the job right.
I need to get it to a manageable size. Even with all the fruit it put out last year, the birds and ants got the better portion of it as we couldn't reach high enough to get the vast majority of the apples.
I have read a lot about the pruning process for an apple tree, but I don't have any real hands on experience. Any advice, tips and tricks I can get from those more experienced than I with such things would be greatly appreciated.
