Dear Sir or Madam,
I would like to prune our pear and apple trees now (April 28 to May 5). The have buds, and today the buds are open! We have espali...
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Pruning Pear and Apple Trees now #865974
Asked April 26, 2024, 10:41 AM EDT
Dear Sir or Madam,
I would like to prune our pear and apple trees now (April 28 to May 5). The have buds, and today the buds are open! We have espalier apple trees that need heavy pruning. Can I do it now?
I would also like to spray organic pesticides (mixture of neem oil, Epson salt, yogurt, effective microbes, and molasses) can I do it now? Buds have opened, is that okay?
I live in Minneapolis close to the West River, south of U of M campus.
Sincerely,
Navid
Thank you so much for responding to my questions so promptly. I am sorry that I couldn't respond to you earlier. I have no camera (no phone with camera), so I couldn't send you pictures of our espalier apple trees as soon as I wanted to. Now I have attached them to this email. I won't prune now, but they are overgrown now. Can I cut the head when they are dormant?
Our pears and apples in the last two years (since 2022 when they started blooming) are attacked by worms. I thought spraying them (following this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQirgcu6lJY, and the book, The Holistic Orchard: Tree Fruits and Berries the Biological Way, by Michael Phillips) now (I missed the window when they had no buds, or buds had not opened yet), the fruits will have no worms. Following your recommendation, I won't spray, but what do you recommend?
Thank you for writing back. Frankly, I am not sure if the tree can be reespaliered. See the section here on pruning neglected espaliers. If you want to give it a go. Cut off up to 1/3 of the tree now focusing on branches that are going forward of the wires and on water shoots that grow straight up. The neglected main trunk should be left until winter. https://www.rhs.org.uk/fruit/apples/training-espalier
Thank you very again for your prompt response even though it was disheartening :( If I understood your response, and my reading of your link, our espliar can never become espalier any more, is that correct? Or, can I remove some of the water shoots and those that are projecting outwards now, and wait till February or March, and then prune/cut back the top trunks? I am sorry for asking you more questions. And, are there any classes a person like me can take to learn more about pruning fruit trees in general and about espalier more specifically? I had no one who could help us with pruning.
And one last question: when should I spray organic solution on our pear and apple trees to prevent moths and other pests eating their fruits?
Thank you for writing back. Gardening is experimenting. It is possible that you can recover the espalier but I would not cut the trunk off until Feb. Once you do, you will probably start to see water shoots popping off upward from around the trunk. Cut these off as soon as possible. For controlling the apple maggots, wait until the flower clusters form dime size fruit. Remove all but one fruit from each cluster and bag the remaining one. https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/bagging-apples-for-insect-and-disease-control/ I cannot find any espalier classes in MN but there are many instructional videos on line.
