Second Year Pruning for Apples and Plums - Backyard Orchard Culture || Black Gumbo

It is now year two for my apple trees and my plum tree. It is time to form the structure of these young trees and to direct growth where we want to form scaffolds. We are practicing what is called backyard Orchard culture. This is a method for keeping trees small, manageable, and productive. I'll show you how to select buds on a dormant apple tree that will form our main growing scaffolds in the coming years. We will be using the modified central leader method. I'll also show you my plum tree on which we are using the open center pruning method. Come along and let's learn how to prune.
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Black Gumbo shares our suburban, backyard, sustainable gardening efforts. We work a small-scale, typical Zone 9a garden and raised beds, the kind of gardening accessible to all. We tend to take the slice of life approach and hope you will enjoy our family, our dog, our cooking, our adventures, and occasionally some commentary and advice. We love family, joy and friendship, and we invite you to enjoy these things with us!
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[@quenuk]

Thank you. Your videos on training apple trees have been extremely helpful to me. I feel I have the confidence now to achieve what I desire with my young trees. I appreciate your help in being able to do so.

[@nancyseery2213]

Thank you, Scott. This was very clear, concise and extremely helpful. I have about 4 books on pruning and sometimes they are very confusing and often conflict with each other. It was very nice to see pruning done in three-D. God bless and keep growing.

[@WILLITGROW]

great tips and nice simple way to do it i like the clothes pin idea..dont worry i wont steal it.

[@marilyncameron6711]

I’m planting several fruits trees next couple weeks. Hopping I have the nerve to prune, so will view this video again and again

[@kath-phlox]

Thanks, I have a beautiful Acer on which I need to encourage a new branch to grow, I'll do this now. I heard about this before, but I didn't find it clear, now I do, thanks Scott

[@juliannedickerson7552]

Very interesting! Thanks for the plant education today! That makes a lot of sense.

[@raydel5732]

Scott, As you know. Cardboard , cardboard , cardboard 😃-- Ray Delbury Sussex County NJ

[@SarahM-lw2gd]

My great grandma planted an apricot tree and an orange tree at her house in California in the 80s. Now, my family lives there, and the apricot tree has since died, but the orange tree is still alive. I pruned it today after trying to learn from a video. It's not perfect, but I did my best, and I hope it helps the tree! The tree looks happier, to me :) love your videos; I learn something new and useful every time!

[@vicwickgardens9174]

I love this lesson. Thanks so much for sharing 😊

[@deltorres2100]

I guess I can prune little bit at a time I don’t want my tree to go into shock

[@deltorres2100]

You’re the second person that says pruning in the summer it’s good I have a 20 year old pair tree that I planted myself I get really good pairs but I let it grow too big and I need to bring it down..

[@davidthegood]

One of my favorite tasks. Good video.

[@baddriversofcolga]

Good stuff, Scott! Glad to see you using the notch method, though from what I've seen you may want to make the notch more of a strip (about 2 mm thick or so) so the cambium layer can't heal back together.

[@themoorlandsallotment7159]

Good timing, I have a plum to prune.

[@GypsyBrokenwings]

Thanks Scott! I wondered about that. BTW if you make the branches grow downward instead of straight out, you won't get sucker shoots.

[@ScottHead]

Yes, that's what I have learned.

[@GQUATTRADITIONZS]

Thanks for sharing, Scott. 💜💜💜 AuntieEllen

[@crochetingaroundnewzealand]

Excellent videos thank you. I was assuming I should let my fruit trees grow big to provide shade in my super hot backyard but I'll rethink it.

[@lizpoole82]

Hey, Scott! Have you thought about putting your compost down close to the trees, then ringing them with cardboard about 6 inches away from the trunk and then putting the mulch on top of the cardboard, forming your "volcano" mounds. Might suppress the grass and weeds a little longer than the mulch alone. The cardboard will eventually break down, especially in our wet weather and feed the soil/tree even more.

[@ScottHead]

I have thought about that, and weed cloth too. Just haven't seen the effort to be worth it until I need a larger area covered in mulch. Maybe next year. I will be making use of cardboard in the regular garden beds this year.

[@benjaminsuddeth6448]

Great video! I want to have fruit trees but only plan on living at the current residence for a few years. Wish there was a cold hearty one i could take with me.

[@jtharp9265]

Thank you, Scott . I'm gonna start hardening my Transplants today , God bless you & your family .

[@colleendigiacomo3089]

Excellent video, I appreciate that you not only show what you’re doing but also why. My son sprouted a couple of crab apple tree in our back yard so we are going to try your methods.

[@amysnipes4245]

Great info. Thank you.

[@BlackJesus8463]

Fuji is the best apples!

[@robkeller3431]

Tom Spellman's brain child. He just happens to work at Dave Wilson.

[@alicepettit164]

This is so clear and helpful, right on point with my 2nd year spring of trees.

[@cathywco]

Very timely for me. We have new fruit trees this year. We need to do this. Thank you!

[@atomicbd100]

Thank you Scott, as always very inspiring! I have never grown a fruit tree but going to give it a shot with your direction through the series.

[@marilyncameron6711]

Thanks

[@detectivemikevarnado7515]

Thank you

[@FinallyFastDotcom]

Hey Scott Great video! you and DTG are two of my favorites. but hey a quick question - have you ever thought about deep mulching your entire backyard to get rid of all that *yuck* Grass, and having the whole yard as a garden plot? genuinely curious. thanks!

[@ScottHead]

I have thought about mulching my paths in the garden and large areas of the yard but not the whole thing. Got to leave some grass for my dog.

[@EastxWestFarms]

The cloth pin is a great idea. Look like all your fruit trees will look like bonsai trees in the future. 😂

[@BRIANLIMBARO]

Love

[@scottlarkin4748]

You posted this just in time. Have 3 one year apple trees and I had never heard of doing this. Headed to the garden

[@ScottHead]

Lots of different ways to grow apple trees, this is just one for making small trees.

[@ScottHead]

And I'll add more shaping and growing videos as the trees mature.

[@scottlarkin4748]

@@ScottHead exactly what I need.

[@danspowercleanservices6060]

I just started some apple seeds

[@pd8559]

Good on ya Scott, you’re a year ahead of me. I’m a lot more aggressive with mine as I put heading cuts at the 9” point above ground level. I am going for very low scaffolds as I am integrating mine into grocery rows ala dtg. I prefer them to fail early if they don’t like to branch low on the nursery grafts so that I can graft my own scions on in order to get the low scaffold system I am looking for saving me a few years of fighting a larger nursery trained grower.

[@johnreynolds7163]

Great video & cant wait to try out your technique. Just planted this may and Ive got a few blooms ie flowers. Should i remove or wait until mid to late summer ?.. still learning the process & favorite min /inspired that "Apple trees are very forgiving", gonna motivate me for years..

[@ScottHead]

Pruning and shaping should be done when the tree is dormant, if you just planted, I'd let the root system get established first and just leave the tree as it is. Hope I understood your question.

[@kierre8938]

I'm going to try this. I recently bought a Arkansas apple tree and it is just one long stick with growth only at the top bud. I was wondering how I would fix it. Thanks for the video.

[@sandyp9891]

Thank you for this tutorial! I don't have any apple trees, but I do have a two year old pear tree. Should I prune my pear tree the way you pruned and shaped your apple trees? I assume so because apples and pears are so similar.

[@ScottHead]

You can treat pears the same way.

[@bellyacres3jillyandkerry281]

Great Tips! have you ever tried air layering?

[@lindafranke8143]

Are you going to do a video on fig trees? I have one that is about 2 years old and a straight trunk of about 3 ft. Last year it only had 3-4 leaves at the top.

[@ScottHead]

I will be doing one on pruning fig trees. What you can do is top your long skinny tree, or pinch off the topmost bud, and that will help force branching. You can cut it back to a height you like as well, that will have the same results. Fig trees are very responsive to pruning.

[@maryann6062]

thank you! this is much needed information. I have apple, pear and peach I need help taking care of. Wondering if pears are treated the same as apples?

[@ScottHead]

Yes, you can treat pears like apples.

[@mercurymike66]

Are citrus trees pruned the same way? Thanks for the videos. -Mike

[@ScottHead]

No, I prune citrus just for size and to keep the sunlight able to penetrate the whole tree. I summer prune citrus to keep it small.

[@margaretmarshall3645]

How did all those notches work out? What percent of the chosen buds sprouted into branches?

[@hypnohope]

Very helpful information! Would you please tell us what kind of mulch you used and where you purchased it? I'm only able to find mulch that's been colored but I prefer a natural, untreated version. Thanks!

[@ScottHead]

Cheap hardwood mulch from Home Depot, non-dyed.

[@daniellecordova2255]

Scott great info thanks! Does that work for any tree or just fruit tree's?

[@ScottHead]

I can work for many trees.

[@themisplacedcountrygirl8923]

I Lalalalalalove your channel! Question. I just bought 8 fruit trees with two being apple. All have started to bloom. Am I too late to prune (will be using grow a little fruit tree/backyard orchard culture pruning method). Thank you

[@ScottHead]

If they have broken dormancy, a very light pruning or none at all is better. You can really stress a tree with heavy pruning if it is not dormant.

[@themisplacedcountrygirl8923]

@@ScottHead thank you for the quick response. Just so I am clear, it’s ok to leave them along and prune when dormant later this year? Should I pick off any fruit?

[@mildredkrisik8888]

I have a 2 yr. old, approx. 200 ft sq mostly flower garden. Because I can more easily lift smaller bags I purchased 10, 0.75 cu. ft. bags of Miracle Grow Garden Soil for top dressing and in ground planting medium. However, now I feel guilty that I may be hurting the overall 'health' of the soil. Should I give the bags away and buy the large, heavy bags of organic garden soil, or is it o.k. to use it this spring/summer? Thank you.

[@ScottHead]

Go for it, just buy better materials in the future.

[@godfirstthenfamily6922]

My apple trees are mature and look yellow :( I don’t know what to do :((

[@ScottHead]

Hmm, I don't have mature apple trees so don't know. Run down a typical list, eliminating any problems - is it unusual weather? Enough water? No pests? Have you fertilized? and so on. Maybe a soil test will reveal a nutritional deficiency. Yellow usually means they lack nitrogen but not always.

[@putinhynes3848]

Which plum tree do you have? I want to buy one and a nectarine.

[@ScottHead]

Santa Rosa plum

[@mattpeacock5208]

Is that your own home grown compost? Or did you find a grazon-free source?

[@ScottHead]

This compost is from Mountain Magic that I got from Orchidsuuplystore dot com. I got it to test it and review it. I believe it to be herbicide free based on a bioassay an talking with the manure supplier. I'll be doing a couple of videos on this stuff, I like it, its great, but shipping makes it super expensive.

[@mattpeacock5208]

@@ScottHead having a grip on herbicide "freeness" (I can't think of a better term) would be great. Like the "fat free" labels and the "gluten free" labels. I'd like to buy composted cow manure with a "grazon free" label. Maybe I'm too into labels. But I can't afford to kill my tomatoes.

[@raleighsistrunk7123]

Will fugitive apples grow in north Florida?

[@ScottHead]

I'm not sure what a fugitive apple is.

[@raleighsistrunk7123]

@@ScottHead auto correct. Fugi apple.

[@ScottHead]

Probably. They will grow here in zone 9a, N. Florida has got to be zoen 8 or 9 so you should be fine.

[@lizzbd4527]

Where do you get your trees from?

[@ScottHead]

Kuffel Creek Nursery (closed for a year or two right now), Ison's Nursery, local grocery store has a nice selection too.

[@ambientac7795]

....

[@putinhynes3848]

Do you plant cucumbers?

[@ScottHead]

Yes, direct seeding them when the temps are right.

[@amysnipes4245]

How I hate bermuda grass!!!