Apple trees and horizontal limbs.

[Smiles Jr.]

Last fall I planted 10 new apple trees. They are semi-dwarf 4 Macintosh, 4 Winesap, and 2 Fugi. They all seem to be doing great so far.

Today a friend who is an old farmer stopped by while I was out there messing around with something or other. He carefully surveyed my new trees and said that I need to pull all of the new branches down to horizontal while the trees are maturing. He showed me how he does it by using old scrap pieces of bailing twine, of which I have lots, and attaching one end to the trunk down at ground level and puling the branch down to horizontal and tying the other end to the branch. He says that only horizontal branches bear fruit and if the branches are horizontal the yield will be as much as 20% higher.

Have any of you heard this before? I have not. I just came in from doing this to 6 of the new trees and I may wait on the other 4 to see if it does anything, good or bad, to my trees.

 

[Beekissed]

Yep....I've heard it. I have a branch weighted down as I type this. Not that only horizontal branches bear fruit, but that one should attempt to have branches growing outward and then angle up slightly instead of vertical as it makes them stronger and more able to bear fruit. They are more open to the sunlight growing that way as well.

This little article says completely horizontal branches are a no no as they won't be strong enough to bear fruit, but also states vertical branches won't bear fruit either.

http://www.provident-living-today.com/Pruning-Apple-Trees.html

This article says train branches to grow at least 60* horizontal to the trunk...but maintain the conical shape of the tree.

http://www.gardening-guides.com/pdf-library/how-to-grow-apples.pdf

Train Young Trees
Training young trees includes
spreading the limbs by various means
and tying limbs down to a horizontal
position to widen angles and
encourage early fruit bud formation.
But it is important that more detailed
training be done, especially if smaller
trees and spur-type trees are grown.
Spreading of limbs should begin
during the first dormant pruning and
continue each year until the tree
produces its first good crop.
There is a need for more careful
pruning and training of young trees
during the early stages of growth

http://www.wvagriculture.org/images/Literature/How_to_Prune_Young_and_Bearing_Apple_Trees.pdf

 

[dickiebird]

He gave you good advice!!!!

THANX RICH

 

[Smart Red]

Branches that are more horizontal have a stronger union with the trunk of the tree than more vertical branches. Fruit grows better on horizontal branches than vertical ones...I know that if you wanted to turn a water spout into a bearing branch you would 'train' it to go horizontally.

Perfectly horizontal? Perhaps not, but trending to that position is a good thing.

 

[Beekissed]

That's what type of branch I'm currently training over...a water sprout. Not sure how long it will take to turn it into fruiting wood but it's worth a shot.

 

[Smiles Jr.]

Oh! I'm glad that you guys are saying that the branches are not to be perfectly horizontal. I was afraid to pull down too much in fear of breaking the branches from the trunk. I think most of mine are 70 to 80 degrees from vertical. I would also imagine that when the twine is released (next year???) each branch may spring up a few degrees, too.

 

[Nyboy]

I did this last year on advise from a client, I couldn't believe how much she bent branch without breaking it.

 

[baymule]

The things I learn on TEG! I plan on planting fruit trees this fall, apple among them, so this comes in handy.

 

[MontyJ]

I posted pics of my trees on another thread about my Fuji. If you look closely you can see two of the Fuji limbs tied down.