Hi Denise,

Pruning apple trees is an art. Your tree needs to be opened up so air circulates better and light penetrates the interior of the tree. Also, you should prune off all the shoots that are coming from the bottom of the trunk, as well as the smaller second trunk that’s developing.

Honeycrisp is often a biennial producer, bearing fruit one year and then resting the next summer, so this may not be related to your trimming. However apples set buds for fruit and leaves the previous year, so you may have pruned off shoots that would have developed fruit. Late winter — February — is the best time to prune an apple tree.

Here’s a guide from the University of Minnesota, with videos:

https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-news/nows-time-prune-apple-trees

If you’re uncomfortable tackling this job yourself, have a certified arborist do it for you. You can find one here:

https://www.treesaregood.org/findanarborist

Hope that helps!