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foxhollowct

Pruning advice on a long-neglected, sun-starved crab apple

FoxHollowCT
9 years ago

We inherited a long-neglected crab apple with our new home. It grows along the northeastern edge of our yard, about twenty feet away from dense ~80' tall forest. It gets sun at some times of year, but not all day. Its growth clearly reflects this- numerous spindly stems reaching high. This was interesting: even though there was no maintenance done on this tree for years, there were no root suckers. My guess is the tree was putting all of its energy into upward growth.

(link to photos: http://imgur.com/a/TKRr4)

Anyway, I did a little pruning, removing some water sprouts and dead wood and the like. But now I'm at a dilemma. My ideal would be a bushy-type tree, with branches beginning at mid-chest level (4') and extending upwards to 15'. It's currently about this height, but of course it's all wrong- for the most part, it's a bunch of slender stems shooting upward, rather than sideways growth creating a fuller shape.

Our goal is to maximize blooms, which I guess means maximizing fruit. The only fruiting limbs are growing at the very top.

I'm inclined to lop off a lot of the top. In particular, as can be seen in the photos circled in red, there is a spot where the main stem has two smaller stems coming off of it, both of which are over the 1/3 limit for reducing cuts. Might I cut the main stem there and leave both of the smaller ones? Or should I choose one and go with it?

Also, I read you shouldn't have crossing branches- but so many of my branches cross I feel I'd have to cut off half the tree just to prevent it!

Enough talk, the photos are here:

http://imgur.com/a/TKRr4

Please help! Thanks.

Here is a link that might be useful: Photos of the crabapple

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