advice needed on fruit trees

We have a small orchard of very neglected apple trees which have been left about 10yrs and I was wondering about the first steps of care.
They are all spindley and have canker maybe.they also had an insect in them in summer.
Some are doing nothing and look half dead.
Some need pruning, so i was going to do it gradually so it does not go into shock or something.
any advice appreciated.
It would be really nice to bring them back to life, I like doing that with the plants and shrubs we have, but need some extra help with the fruit trees.
many thanks.

 

If they all have Canker you might want to think about replacing them as there will be no guarantee that the yield will pick up even after rejuvination.

If you do want to though, do it in winter over 3 years. Firstly cut out the cankered branches & cover the cuts with a cow dung paste.

Over the next 2 winters cut out branches to open the trees up, usually ones that are crossing over.

Combine this with a good mulch/feed around the base.

Might be worth taking out the worse ones & re planting, so then if the pruning doesn't improve things, at least you've got some new ones coming along.

 

I agree totally with Ziggy but with two provisos. 1/ you need to trim the diseased branches back 6" into clean wood. 2/ modern methods mean you don`t treat the cut ends with anything. The idea is you let the wound heal over.

 

6 inches is good Dai, should have mentioned that

Don't get the bit about not treating though?

The Analectic magazine - Washington Irving - Google Books

Fungal spores are still omnipresent in the atmosphere:(

 

I've been told not treat as well Ziggy the point being that if there's fungal spores present then there already on the cut and there's zilch you can do

 

Nowadays Zig you leave the wood clean so that the bark will grow over it and seal it.

 

Noo, i'm waiting for Harmony Arbs view on this, can't see an open wound being a good thing. If someone had cut my arm off, i'd rather they covered the soggy bit with something even if it was bull poo.

 

But your arm wouldn`t be dormant Zig, it would still have the blood circulating, not the case with a dormant tree.

 

Hi tothemanorborn (and the rest of you!)

Here's my opinion, although I'm no fruit tree expert.

First steps:

With fruit trees you can prune for fruit production, or for other reasons such as shape, health, safety etc. Two different types of pruning require different techniques. being as that these trees have been neglected for so long I'd recommend trimming them back and sorting out what to keep and what to discard first. Once you have a selection of trees left then you can concentrate on pruning for fruit production, if you so wish.

The trees in question are probably suffering from Nectria canker caused by the Nectria sp. of fungi. The bulky wound rarely entirely girdle the branches, but can look unsightly and can be removed. Fruit can often still grow on cankered branches.

Pruning:

Pruning to remove unwanted growth needs to be undertaken carefully and with care and attention. Randomly cutting off branches at the internode will lead to further infection and future problems. Branches need to be removed back to the branch collar, carefully leaving it intact so that the specialist meristem cells form a callus and seal the wound naturally. This is good, professional arboricultural practice. Wound painting should be avoided. I have never heard of putting cow dung on a wound (sorry, Ziggy!) and that book was published in 1818, and tree care practices have evolved a lot since then!!

About pruning cuts and wound dressing:

Trees have a fantastic ability to deal with harmful pathogens such as fungi and bacteria. As mentioned above, the branch collar is a site where specialist meristem cells are produced, and can differentiate into woundwood and bark to form a protective callus - given time. Painting onto the wound can introduce all manners of nasties into the tree's system which it may not be able to cope sufficiently with.

The time between branch removal and callus completion does leave the wound open to infection, as Ziggy's so right in thinking. However, the tree has biological and chemical boundaries in place to help combat and contain any infection that may get in. The callus is formed because bark is a protective layer, much like our skin, that can repel pathogens, leaving the tree to carry on growing.

More about correct pruning techniques can be found here: Pruning Trees: How to Properly Prune a Tree

Hope this is of some help.

Matthew

 

Cheers Matthew, I knew you would come up trumps

Fair cop with the cow dung, the book might have been written in 1818, but tis as yesterday in Dorset, where electricity has only recently been downgraded from "Witchcraft" to "Highly Suspicious"

 

It'd be pretty dormant if it was lying on the ground.

 

The stump wouldn`t be. You, as the main trunk, would still be functioning. the trunk of a tree though is NOT functioning. it would be in dormancy. Trust me I am right.

 

Thanks for all advice, I had to take 2 apple trees right back as they were so bad,one had been propped up after a storm and was leaning so bad, and both so infected and overgrown, they were causing a prob with an entrance way, and you stepped on mouldy apples all the time so they had to go right back, they were not in the sml orchard.
I have lost another because they want to put a septic tank in, which i am annoyed with as it looks like this one inparticular had a good chance. I do have another which i am hoping will come back nice so lets hope, some of the others look so bad i have decided to replace them.
Funny how less is more all the time!!