Recovering a Topped Apple Tree

In this video we will travel between three different years of an apple tree's journey to recovering from a brutal topping.
Topping is when all of the main branches on a fruit tree are haphazardly cut without taking into account, nodes, buds, or forks. All of the branches that would normally have fruit or leaf are completely removed. This puts the tree into a lot of stress and makes it more susceptible to disease and sun scald.
Trees respond to topping by growing new advantageous branches or water sprouts that the tree will use to collect as much energy as possible. It is important to thin our a few new branches and lightly tip each one so that they will fork and produce more beneficial branches and slowly develop spurs.
As your tree recovers it will be better able to collect the sunlight it needs and eventually it will produce fruit again. An old tree that is in decline will often produce more fruit than a new one that has been planted in its place. It is worth extending the life of your old trees while new ones are maturing so that when an old tree dies, you will have several years of growth on your new tree.

[@everydaydad2618]

Love the time lapse so we can actually see how the tree progresses over the years - I learned a lot; thanks!

[@fruitpruningchannel]

I'm so glad this was helpful.

[@ejfoodguy]

Great video! It is very educational to see how you progressed the tree over successive years! Also, really like all of the horticultural explanations of your thought process and the specific examples of issues (e.g. sun scald). Thanks for posting!

[@fruitpruningchannel]

Thanks for watching! I appreciate the positive feedback.

[@mymortonisms]

As a tree guy I see this a lot. Usually from lack of maintenance from the get go then the tree is to big for the spot, customer wants major reduction and though we know what’s good for the tree it isn’t paying the bill. At what point do you recommend a take down and plant new?

[@fruitpruningchannel]

You can do an aggressive pruning job that significantly thins the canopy. This will stimulate more growth on the interior of the tree. Once the interior of the tree is developed then you can cut more of the older wood. It's easy to explain to a customer why you need to reduce the size of their tree over a three or four year period. Instead of selling one job you give yourself job security over three or four years. You do what's right for the tree, which is right for the customer, and you quadruple the revenue generated by that tree.

[@fruitpruningchannel]

Here's an example in an old apple tree, but this can be done with any tree. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iYGqd3qjptdgitE

[@quickbeam36]

This seems to be a too common occurrence that trees are topped when they shouldn't be. Are there any fruit trees, or landscape trees that are supposed to be pruned this way, and "experts" are just applying a valid practice to the wrong trees? Or is it just overall lack of pruning knowledge?

[@fruitpruningchannel]

Good question! No tree likes to be topped, but there are some trees like willows and Catalpas that are often topped because they can recover so well after that type of pruning, but I don't think it's a very good practice.