How to Prune A Really Neglected Apple Tree

Description: #How to Prune A Really Neglected Apple Tree #pruning old apple trees
#Pruning old apple trees with a chain saw #Restoration pruning on old apples trees
A discussion and demonstration of how to approach pruning an older and neglected apple tree by: Gary L. Heilig, retired Horticulture Educator for Michigan State University Extension.
Lopper used:amzn.to/3cmt28p
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases which helps with the costs associated with this channel.
Topics include:
Is it worth the effort
How to approach the job safely
Using a chain saw for the big cuts
Topping the tree
Thinning cuts etc.
Music credit: Antarctica by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommon...)
Artist: audionautix.com/

[@kungfil9931]

I love the end credits asking for remembrance!!!

[@WmArthur]

Me Too!

[@terrim.602]

So do I. ❤️

[@americandodo]

I subscribed just because of it... Well... Plus the video was helpful 😁

[@paulespinoza974]

I pruned an apple tree in NE Georgia and the rancher told me I had killed the tree. The following year, the daughter-in-law told me they had the largest, juiciest and sweetest apples they had ever seen.. Advice: Prune around the strength of the largest branches; reduce the smaller branches. The tree will know what branches it has to supply in order to get all its energy to the produce it’s going to yield. Give the tree a chance to show it’s true strength. Remember they’re smatter than you when it comes to their fruit.

[@jdr9419]

What is the best time of year to trim a tree like that?

[@paulespinoza974]

@@jdr9419 After the last frost and before you see flowers on ANY tree.

[@aprox23]

When's the best time to prune an apple tree

[@maddierosemusic]

@@jdr9419 I've read when they go dormant - so I'm doing mine in January.

[@dawnhock4545]

What kind of tree treatment is good to get rid of any bad bugs or stuff like that

[@JoshWeaverRC]

5:52 I smiled when I saw my man had guts from seeing his shirt covered in chain saw debris and no branch remaining. Good job. BTW 550 days in Afghanistan for me back in my younger years. Airborne.

[@christyj24]

Thank you for your service!!❤️❤️

[@Free_Falastin2024]

You did a great job contributing to the oppression of the world. Well done. I'm sure the Afghanis whose lives you destroyed for corporate greet appreciate your "service."

[@angrybees8122]

In my opinion that "ugly tree" looks absolutely stunning 😍

[@bobross9895]

When the closing message came up, I subscribed.

[@WmArthur]

Me Too!

[@chrisp4170]

What does it mean, though? Its cryptic...

[@nathanclaudia]

Me too! My heart felt so warm when I read this message from a fellow patriot.

[@chrisp4170]

@@nathanclaudia Thought this was about apple trees…

[@Free_Falastin2024]

I down voted because I'm a person of morality and ethics. Free the world from corporate greed and militarily occupation. Don't be sheep, stand on the right side of history.

[@Lvaladez114]

Love the end message! God bless!

[@gosmoothgolight7567]

As a Veteran of the USAF, I sincerely appreciate your comment at the end. This video was exactly what I was looking for, very well done! Thank you for sharing, sir ... God Bless

[@RG-wy1ol]

I will watch this video over and over until I get this DIY project done

[@baylee_baby_]

Just what I needed my father hasn't been able to do the yard work for awhile so once I moved closer I knew I needed to help him, but I know nothing about this stuff haha. Thank you!

[@learn_live]

Bless you!

[@nixonsprguy3629]

Dude, your content helped me to transform my neglected piece of land to a really neat place with genuinely nice fruits. Thx a lot.

[@ccthepope]

Gary, Loved your video ( as always ) and I loved your sentiments at the end. God bless you!

[@GaryHeilig]

I appreciate your comment and the blessing.

[@christinahills9127]

Thank you for a great video Gary. I'm self taught from books on how to develop structure from planting & have had to bring a few overgrown orchards into line, often wondering if I had it right. There wasn't a single cut that you did that I hadn't already chosen! Very encouraging 😊 And I fully support your stance!

[@Rameus]

Your ending message.......I liked it. And Thank You!

[@al.r9280]

Nice job! You are very easy to listen to, really enjoyed that!

[@curtcmiller]

This motivates me to work on some big trees that need it.

[@sylvia106]

I see this a great learning opportunity and excellent for hands on pruning experience.

[@RangeToyz]

Thanks for this and the last pear tree video I watched. I’ll always come back for more.

[@w.c.6678]

Thank you for sharing your Time and Knowledge, and NOT making it insulting for those of us who are New to this! God Bless you and yours!

[@krisholden5365]

Wonderful video. Thank you for sharing this and also for the beautiful message at the end. Glad to see that you’re in beautiful Northern Lower Michigan! It’s one of my favorite places on earth and where I was raised. God bless.

[@kennethciardullo3534]

You are a good man helping people

[@dawnrobins9779]

Thank You! This was clear, step by step instructions!

[@radharcanna]

A very good video. I’ve watched many others but yours is the first one to mention the attractiveness of the tree. That’s an important thing.

[@GoGracefully]

Tree pruning = excellent. Civics lesson at the end A+. God bless you!

[@MarioGarcia-ip6qx]

Thank you for you warm words at the end of your tutorial. May God bless our country.

[@Desertphile]

Did your country sneeze?

[@horticultureandhomes]

Gary I enjoy your videos. Your words on freedoms and the republic hit home in this day and age. Thank you.!

[@lfk6370]

Thank you Gary. A delight as always.

[@debralucas6091]

Got some good tips to use when tackling my 25 year old pear tree that hasn’t ever been pruned thank you

[@lawrenceatkins2160]

Thank you for the good video and the inspiring message at the end. 🙂

[@cavalryscout8720]

I have two old apple trees in that kind of neglected shape.. Thanks for the informative video. I've got a lot of work ahead it seems.. (subscribed) Operation Desert Storm vet here.. scouts out..

[@lorrainewise7258]

Great video Gary, can't believe I have pruned my huge apple tree beautifully after following all your instructions. Was dreading it, but it seemed so easy following your advise. A massive "Thank you".

[@shirleycolopy4322]

Nice job and Great message in the end!!!! 🇺🇸

[@KS-db5bc]

This is the video I needed. Thanks

[@ritadaniels7931]

This is the best, most informative and realistic video I have seen. Although a difficult job. Great and straight forward advice to understand. xxxxx

[@GaryHeilig]

Thank you so much for your comments. I appreciate the feedback.

[@jamespeatling7660]

In the UK advice from old gardening books is to remove branches that cross to avoid letting disease in and to remove unwanted larger branches in three separate events two years apart. So some in year one,next in year three and final set in year five. This allows for continual fruit bearing and minimum disruption to tree. Orchards appear to have 70 year life and here new plantations are set up next to old at 50 years. Often three rows of a dozen. A third patch remains for use on a 200 year cycle. The original Bramley apple tree is currently failing at 200 years old.

[@shanechostetler9997]

Nicely done, I enjoy looking back after the trees are all pruned and admiring the work that has been done.

[@hammockmonk]

I had a very similar tree and after three or four years, it's looking well maintained once more and has become quite productive. Good luck, pruners!

[@TheDennys21]

How hard did you prune it the first time? When did it produce fruit after that?

[@janedoe6071]

My brothers apple tree looks just like this and last summer I just started watering it and giving it attention and it grew tons of beautiful apples!!!

[@am4230]

You did a nice job for a year one prune, I think the shape was nice actually! Love your comment at the end, hopefully we can get the FISA court cleaned up, peace!

[@am4230]

Apple trees and governments do best when well-exposed to light ;)

[@williamfischer458]

This video gave me the courage to tackle to monster apple trees today. I wish I could share my pictures. Thanks

[@chuckkottke]

Perfect video Gary! Just right for resurrecting an old orchard; many thanks to you for providing this video.🍎

[@zhengyangwu8289]

Great ending message. The American Republic is the great beacon of human freedom. Never ever let anyone takes it down.

[@americanrifleman2992]

Youre Ending comment, put a lump in my throat. Thank you for remembering our Veterans and those who serve so selflessly.

[@GaryHeilig]

You are very welcome.

[@jmack619]

Hi Gary. Fitting that I found this video on Remberance Day. Thank you. I am in Canada, about to prune 2 decorative crabapple trees in the front yard. Appreciate your videos

[@lh6740]

Thank you so much for your knowledge. I just trimmed my friends apple tree. I hope I did good. I know it's a bit early in the season. But maybe I did a good job ..so we need to rid of all the branches that grow upwards. 😊🍎🍏. Maybe I'll look up grafting her tree also so she has a nice variety for next year.

[@angeloverdoni4999]

Another excellent video. I can apply this to some neglected trees on the property now with some confidence. Thank you for taking the time to disseminate this information and your effort to educate effectively.

[@terrim.602]

I like how he explains why he chooses the branches and once he gets done with some of the work, he gives us a visual of his progress. I wish we could see the tree with apples on it during the growing season ☺️☺️!

[@lawrenceladia]

Thank you so much for this video. I have 18 year old apple & apple trees that I never got around to pruning and this video gave a better idea on pruning it this fall season. zone 6B

[@dkersey5292]

The pruned tree is beautiful. Your videos are wonderful and your explanations are clear and easy to understand. Your dry humor is good too. Pruned fruit trees are beautiful especially in the spring with all the blossoms and in the winter against a wintery field. Thanks for sharing your expertise.

[@dwoo4986]

Beautiful ending message. God Bless!

[@jisa39]

Excellent video

[@weta-linetv5354]

That was a great video, thankyou.

[@humanbn1057]

Thank you for the information. You were clear and concise.

[@dag118]

Our heirloom apple trees were ever sprayed. Delicious apples, but difficult to harvest a 30 foot tree! Thanks for video.

[@michaeldougfir9807]

Greetings from rural NE California - again! In all my years of pruning I have decided that the apple tree is the most neglected fruit tree in America. Thanks for another good, instructive video. I'm sure people will be helped by your work. Also, as a US Naval Veteran, I wish to thank you for your Memorial Day acknowledgement. You are very considerate.

[@GaryHeilig]

My father was a Navy vet. Thank you so much for your service and also for watching.

[@jerichoreed22]

I'm happy to see this video--first I've seen about pruning a mature, neglected tree rather than ones that have been recently planted or relatively taken care of. There are definitely a lot of these older kinds out there. My dad and I started doing this with our old McIntosh several years ago, he had bought it decades ago thinking it was a dwarf but not so much. My parents had let it get away from them over the years, so I said let's bite the bullet and go hard after it. I went to school for Horticulture and Landscaping, and one thing I remembered from there was when dealing with an older tree, you can go hard but not TOO hard. Taking a max of about 1/3 in a year so you're not taking too much of the food production for the tree (leaves) away from it. But even 1/3 of a big, mature tree can still be a LOT of branches :) And with apples, boy will they send the suckers and watersprouts out when you start pruning on a yearly basis. Just keeping up is a job all in itself

[@darinkriener1300]

Trimming back to the growth point, or node, significantly helps reduce the suckers. 1/3 is max, unless it needs the shock I usually try to be under 25%. These hacks that talk about cutting everything off are sacrificing the long term production, health, and longevity of their trees for the short term production.

[@GoMommaGo]

Thank you for the message at the end. Couldn't agree more!

[@ehfCannon]

Thank you for sharing, sir.

[@NotitiaRecolligo]

Thank you. I love your ending. God bless.

[@astapuppy1]

Your video is amazing! You are so clear and organized with your directions! Thank you so much! Fantastic job!!

[@DonCurrier]

Loved the outro patriot!!

[@cindyrobinson9370]

Thanks Gary 🙂

[@christyj24]

Praise God for our nation and your apple tree info!!

[@Legend0222]

Thank you, i have a couple of these trees in my yard and have been researching how to care for them, your video was very helpful!

[@johnalig6343]

❤thanks for the info. Great help!

[@pamalajjohnson9576]

Great job

[@cher4705]

Nicely done, professional video. Thanks!

[@kevinfranklin4977]

Thank you sir for sharing this video. Very helpful.

[@JackedRado71]

Our tree was dwindling, so we pruned the entire top off. The next few years yielded some of the biggest and best apples it’s ever had. Needless to say, it well over due for another haircut. You’d think it would kill it cutting that much but it does the complete opposite. Might even try grafting on some other apple colors this time

[@pozin05]

Great video, thank you

[@lindapotratz2481]

A follow up on how the tree looked the next year would have been interesting to see . Thank you .

[@owheydusoapsk]

Thank you. I have an old apple tree and was looking for this info.

[@1yehny]

Subbed for your video and for your message.

[@jackcronk]

Just the advice I was looking for … up here in Canada.

[@patnelson4289]

Thank you very well done .

[@Nobody18718]

Thanks Gary

[@demiserofd]

Great video, in future videos it would be great to have a before and after at the end for comparison.

[@mello8939]

Wow one year ago you gave the reminder to be mindful of our freedoms. How far things have regressed in the last year. Where will we be a year from now?

[@country4lyfe365]

Enjoyed this video...very very helpful God bless..Chris.Indiana

[@GaryHeilig]

I am glad it was helpful. Thank you for watching.

[@travispangborn4403]

Well thanks for showing everything.

[@briancaleb6503]

Wow, really made a difference!

[@Gentleman8astard]

Gary seems like a great guy. He is great at explaining things just as I understand them. Lots of info in a short time.

[@cowboymcq6711]

O MY GOD put your glasses back on wouldn’t want you to poke your eye out ❕❕❕ Those apple tree branches are vicious. I feel so much better after you used that chainsaw you put some glasses on THANKS great videos

[@outthere9370]

I pruned a apple tree last year. It's very vigorous. Like this tree it had grown quite tall. Not as big as this one though. I cut back quiet hard & closer to the base of the tree which has a "open" centre as apposed to a central leader. The branches were quite thick. I'm astonished as to the proliferation of new growth! With the tree now "shorter" it will be easier to maintain & harvest. 😋

[@jimmatheson948]

My nickname is Johnny Appleseed ... nice to meet and share your experience and insights.

[@FamSword]

Thank you so much for this video! Super helpful and I can see it was a tough job, but you seemed to pull it off great!

[@ricosaurus]

thanks for the helpful video -- have several nearly century old apple and pear trees -- the apples a fair bit bigger than this, on our property. This helps. As to aesthetics, that is somewhat in the eye of the beholder -- I want to keep these old trees for their aged quality -- asymmetry, variety of stem sizes -- those qualities enhanced by niwaki. I am also growing roses up through them. As to fruit -- I have plenty of space for young productive trees.

[@terrim.602]

I have several apple trees like the little one next to that big one. I love this video. I subscribed hoping to find videos to care for short, transplanted apple trees and ones that look like the skinny scraggly tree next to the big apple tree you are working on. (I had a tree like the big one at my old house I sold. Thank you!

[@banditeastlick2471]

Freedom is more than worth fighting for

[@AJ-ku7nm]

Looks a lot like the Apple tree at the end of my new garden. Wish me luck.

[@johnathanross8951]

Otherwise this video might be quit short - brilliant.

[@BangBangBo]

I enjoyed this video a lot. Hopefully they give you a hat or sunglasses next time. Looks like the sun was staring down at you.

[@guyinpajamapants6892]

This was the best video I’ve seen yet! A huge help! Thanks!

[@garyschemke1881]

Wow this is like 20 miles from my house. I think it helps me to watch someone who grows in the same climate as me.

[@ziggybender9125]

So hard to find advice on pruning old trees. I just went for it last month over here in Hawaii on 2 lychee trees. I cut basically all foliage back leaving big stumped branch ends. I was told by others it would take a long time to bounce back to fruiting but I tell you what the new branches are forming more and more every day right now.

[@MYPERMACULTUREGARDEN]

I wonder how it fared ? How it looks like with flowers ? or if the fruit was any good ? Maybe you can do a follow-up video or a picture in one of your other videos to came !

[@timdex91]

Nicely done!!!

[@tfrost33elkhunter]

Thank you!

[@stevecochran2677]

Nice job Gary!!

[@GaryHeilig]

Thank you. It was a risky job. I don't like being off the ground with a chain saw. Thanks for watching.

[@a.wilkins1708]

well said Sir!

[@francesbernard2445]

Here in Edmonton, Alberta Canada just this last Saturday on April 29, 2022 a high minded tall guy with his handy dandy tree pruner pole came by the other day along with his buddy and a bucket truck after I called EPCOR to drop the power line passing through my apple tree so at age 65 I could finish taking down the large limbs of the really neglected apple tree that was in my back yard when I got here to stay. He took one look at me and another look at the ladder I had set up against the tree and then instead decided to lop off the top of the tree himself with his handy dandy tree pruner pole after getting my permission to do so first. I will get around to saving up enough for paying EPCOR to put the power line to my home underground some day too.

[@JerryDozierKanishkaCombatives]

Thank you Sir....very helpful.