SAVE your old/dying Fruit Tree using THIS simple PRUNING technique!

[@d-sow-13]

It always amazes me how trees regenerate themselves through new seedlings and new shoots! Great info as always Stefan!

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Thanks again!

[@chrism3845]

What spectacular advice for the fruit tree hobbyist. Thank you.

[@StefanSobkowiak]

So nice of you

[@cynthiacollins2668]

I would like for you to show how to see whether it is above or below the graft. That way I know whether to expect to have to graft or not to get my same delicious apples!

[@jdoboy6835]

Almost all of my apple trees in my orchard now, were started from seed. My hybrids. They are very healthy & produce massive amounts of fruit. The first apple trees that I bought were grafted. They lasted about 10 years of production & slowly died off. The seeds that I used were from huge apple trees that were not grafted. They are at least 30-40 years old, & are still producing strong, & they have never been pruned. GO FIGURE.

[@maha333g5]

Love your videos!! Thank you so much!! Happy 2024!!

[@B30pt87]

Thank you for this! I have two old apple trees that I was considering taking down, but now I have the knowledge of the possibility of saving them (or their shoots).

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Glad it was helpful!

[@nicosgeo]

If you are planning to leave an offshoot as a replacement you have to plan for a graft, especially if the mother trunk is alive so that the graft will have both mechanical and biological support so it can develop faster. The offshoots in your cases are very healthy and will give new trees very fast.

[@loganv0410]

If it's a grafted tree your viewers need to be careful if a shoot from low down might be from the rootstock rather than the scion.

[@evanborge494]

I guess you could still renew it by cutting it down and taking a scion from the old tree and re-grafting it to the rootstock

[@cistern]

My thoughts exactly. All of my trees are grafted, so this advice is only so helpful.

[@pamelah6431]

Yeah, I thought virtually all apple trees were grafted clone scions. That surprised me, too.

[@jjzacharias3937]

Thank you!

[@srantoniomatos]

Great video. Tanks.

[@dominikasuder6830]

Wspaniały kanał, pozdrawiam z Polski🙂

[@CriaAndKiddFW]

Hi Stefan, re-yesterday's question on my old neglected apple trees, is this what you'd suggest, following your 3 year plan you also suggested? Love your videos, I'm glad I can finally put your knowledge to use! Much gratitude!

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Yes, absolutely. You never?, rarely go wrong for the long term removing branches above horizontal. It makes for an easy to manage tree. Just keep it to one or two big branches per year.

[@CriaAndKiddFW]

@StefanSobkowiak understood! And I'll definitely be putting up your suggested fly traps and encourage local birds to help with "pest" control. There's a good 50 feet between the two backyard apple trees, I'm going to turn them into "trios" to get going before I plan out my new orchard. :-D

[@kansasterri5977]

Got it. I have an old tree that looks exactly like the tree with new shoots coming out of the trunk about 2 feet from the ground. The mother tree loses 1 limb every year while the new shoots are now as thick as my thumb. I HAVE been just letting the tree do its thing, but it sounds like it is time to remove all but one shoot. The tree will be ugly but what I care about is fruit so that is OK

[@kansasterri5977]

I hope you are right!@Ni-dk7ni

[@gdr55]

I have the same problem. My main old trunk is also rotting inside where a bigger branch was removed. I always take out the base renewal. So it may be a bit late but Im going to leave a new base shoot. I dont seem to😮 be pruning it properly because I have dozens of new growth in the tree every year all at least four to five feet straight up. Still having good crop of fruit.

[@elizabethargue6212]

I have just discovered your videos, very informative and so fascinating. A question please, does strangling dog vine have any benefits or should I try to pull all out. Thank you. Liz

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Thanks. I'm not sure, we just started to get it about 4 years ago. We just mow it.

[@Kalpapada]

Very interesting video. Thank you for sharing this meaningful and important knowledge. Can you tell what to do if the tree have no new shoots from big trunk, which is about 3m long? Can I, very carefully, remove some bark, puncture or make small shallow cuts to encourage sleeping buds to start growing some new branches? After that I can shape the ipper part of tree to let the sun in to the new shoots and form a new tree from this low (1,5m) growing branches.

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Yes, you can, I’ve tried it but with mixed results. When the tree is not declining it doesn’t want to put out base shoots unless it’s cut short

[@paulcesare8462]

Hello Stefan, Thank you for your videos. I have two questions for you- 1. What do you think of the new model of growing fruit, using cordons? 2. Would you use a cordon as a training aparatus and then remove it for a young shoot/new tree such as in this video?

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Cordons have been used for over a hundred years. Once trained to a cordon keep it trained that way.

[@claudiakoprowski8925]

Thanks

[@Gonzalo_M]

Awesome! I didn’t know that old threes sent new shootings for survival. Incredible! 🙂 When the new replacement shoot come from the ground (ideal position). How can you know if it’s from the cultivar or the rootstock itself?

[@jakobbrun6535]

If its from the ground, its almost 100% the rootstock shooting. It has to be grafted, ideally on year 1.

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Look for the bulge or graft union. You want a shoot at or above the graft union.

[@Gonzalo_M]

@@jakobbrun6535 that makes sense! thanks!

[@Donnie_M.]

I wish you had a video on preventing/treating canckers in stone fruit trees. I am having a persistent problem with it in Bing Cherry Trees and unfortunately it's on the trunks so cutting off infected branches won't work..

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Great suggestion! As my cherry trees grow older I’ll get to learn what they are lacking if it appears.

[@benpluta6187]

Thanks! I have an old pear tree or maybe two together, over 100 years old. Still produces fruit and is tall and from what i can tell has never been pruned. I baught the property four years ago. Theres a lot of rot and woodpecker damage on the larger sections10 to 30 ft up. I would love to save this tree. I dont have any new shoots from the stump. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Your channel is great!

[@StefanSobkowiak]

10 feet up you can use a pole saw to remove the dead branches. 30 feet up let the woodpeckers do it. Gotta love those generational trees. Imagine if you graft a few more of that tree onto some standard pear rootstock so that people 100 years from now will enjoy the pears. You know it’s a survivor and long lived, just needs to be propagated.

[@shadytreez]

I really thought trees dying was for 20+ year old trees or if someone stopped watering it. But this year, my 17 year old peach tree decided to kill off several branches and after we picked off the fruits from another branch it immediately killed that one too. Now I have one older branch and one new growth off the trunk. The tree is very stressed because the house drains (too wet) right to it, and neighbors 115ft redwood is encroaching. It was timely that I found this vedeo.

[@lactobacillusprime]

Curious about the vitality of the root system of such a renewed tree. Will that reshape and reform below just like the 'new' tree above ground? The aging of plant cells and plants seems to have more to do with wear and tear of the plant structure that gets fixed in place without being able to replace damaged parts and becoming susceptible to more damage and disease. Telomere shortening like is happening in animal cells resulting in aging isn't a factor in plants right? That's probably also why cultivars and clones of clones in plants remain fresh and viable whereas clones of animal cells get weak and basically remain old cells.

[@jdoboy6835]

I watched the whole video, but I was waiting to hear you say & show, a "grafted tree or not"? Naturally, if the parent tree was grafted, you certainly do not want the new sprout to come out at ground level. Without your description of a grafted tree, and not being able to find the graft collar, A newbie, doing what you are describing, might never see any fruit on his new ground-level shoot!? ;>) I have one very old purple plum left in my orchard. It's the only plum tree that hasn't died, or show sign of Black Knot. It's now throwing up dozens of root shoots,, some are 6'-8' tall. I'm letting them live just for the fun of it,, see what happens. These root shoots have produce some flowers the last 2 years, but never grew fruit. So far, I'll just have to assume that those root shoots are from a non-productive graft. Who knows,,,, Maybe this will be the surprising year.?

[@igneousc]

he mentions it in the last 5 seconds of the video basically, I had the same question. But If its the rootstock you can use it to overgraft the tree you want onto it

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

I wonder if those young shoots in disadvantageous positions can be rerooted elsewhere in the orchard.

[@bertbert2725]

if you have multiple shoot coming the ground when the original trunk already died or was already cut give them a good yank. the best looking one might just be the weakest and break off. you want that to happen on your watch and not by a strong wind after you selected it and removed all the others. (this is experience talking :D )

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Great tip.

[@barbarasimoes9463]

This is very helpful. I have an apple tree that is 2' in diameter, but is dying by inches. I had an arborist come and prune it, and as is expected, many shoots have shot out. I'll have to go out and look for one coming from the ground....I think the original tree is at least 150 years old and original to my old Vermont homestead which was built in 1850.

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Wow, nice.

[@jakobbrun6535]

Oh yeah, do everything you can to save that ancient!

[@JS-mh1fh]

Wondering if this can be used on an old peach tree at the end of its lifespan. And, how to take a clipping from pruning to graft, somehow, to the trunk.

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Yes you can, I have a peach rebuilt this way now bearing. I have several videos on grafting.

[@Unabashedlyme]

I have a eucalyptus tree that I brought in from the cold before it got too cold. I live in Canada where it gets cold and snowy. Although not where I live very often which is Vancouver Island. I brought my eucalyptus tree in before it got chilly at all and it seems to have dried up but it has grown a lot of shoots at the very base of the tree. I’m just wondering if I should chop the tree down. it’s only about 5 feet high. The shoots go all around the base and there’s quite a few of them

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Yes cut out the dried stem, the others will replace it. You can leave it more like a bush with several stems since its in a pot.

[@Clbr153]

Hi Stefan, what's the spacing between your fruit trees and nitrogen fixers?

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Between 8’-21’, depends on rootstock.

[@Clbr153]

@@StefanSobkowiak ok thanks! Cause I was wondering if I plant the nitrogen fixers too far apart will it still deliver to the fruit trees ? What's the limit ?

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Probably between 2-3 times the spread of the tree or shrub is the spread of the roots. It will just take a couple of years more till they intersect.

[@Clbr153]

@@StefanSobkowiak ok, many thanks mate!

[@Clbr153]

In your movie you talk about two frenchies who came to you and taught you about things, who are they ?

[@karabean]

Does the barrier screen at the bottom prevent a new shoot from coming out, if the screen is too tight?

[@roccoconte2960]

When would you consider a tree old in years , apple or pear?

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Depends on the type of rootstock it is on. The more dwarfing the rootstock the younger the tree becomes old. Most dwarf apple are considered old at 30, while on standard rootstock it can be 70-100 years.

[@janetmcnutt4994]

Is there a way to get the tree to start a new start at the truck? I moved to a house that has an old apple tree and the truck is not the best. The apples are good and plenty. Needs TLC to get healthy again. But trunk has holes and possible rotten spots. Hope to keep it going until the new tree I planted last year is big enough to graft a start of the old tree before the old tree dies.

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Next weeks video.

[@antoniiocaluso1071]

Heyyy...Stefan, when you "retire" to warmer Climes, consider East of Punta Gorda, FL. YOU will be "renewed" in chilly Winter :-))) TIP: run at 1.25x. he's Canadian haaaaa

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Thanks will need a prospecting trip.

[@GoceStojanov-zw3ck]

Why You don't use wax or some other protection ?

[@studioroom8757]

Stefan. You have a great channel but some horrible fear mongering advertising. (I blame you tube) but it's not a good watch.

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Sorry to hear that. I have no control over what ads are used. You have control over what you buy and don’t buy however.