In Nov. of 2011 I was confused about GR being a tip bearer and exactly what that meant, now I have a better idea -

My tree is forming some fruit on spurs on 2 and 3 yo wood but the majority is definitely on 1 yo wood in the region starting about 1 ft. below the apical shoot up to the apical tip.

The vast majority of the 1 yo shoots are very spindly and it's hard to imagine them hanging an apple and not breaking off the trunk in the wind. guess I'll find out how those spindly branches handle fruit this year as there are in the range of 50 fruit total on the tree.

How to grow 1 yo wood hat isn't spindly, hmmm? None of my other varieties put out spindly 1 yo wood like GR, maybe I'll just start pruniing to encourage more 2 y.o. wood and forget the tips, sounds nuts.

Speaking of wispy branches, I noticed that the Jonafree is having some of that problem this year and am wondering if (likely) it is something I am doing wrong when pruning like not leaving enough room for light to penetrate inside the canopy. Any thoughts on how one would cause the formation of numerous (not extremely) thin, 1 yo branches? I'm talking about some of those branches being 2 and 3' long with blooms at the end that have to be cut way back to be useful next year because they are so proportionally thin and long now. The Jonafree has never been fertilized and is now a 7th leaf tree. I still consider myself to be a novice apple grower especially when it comes to pruning regardless of my college education in horticulture (not pomology, obviously).