When we moved into our house we were very excited to see this apple tree in our backyard. Little did we know it’s branches were so long they scraped against our master bathroom window if it was windy, like a horror film. I was convinced we were about to be murdered with every storm.
K (the husband) and I recently trimmed the tree, and we couldn’t see any signs that it had ever been trimmed before. If you know much about fruit trees you know how important pruning is. If you’re like me, then you’re hearing it for the first time. But, if you don’t prune fruit trees it affects the quality and size of the fruit produced, and if you have to trim a lot off, like we did, the tree can go into shock and it’s possible it won’ t produce that year.
We ended up taking off about half of the tree in branches – I’m not even kidding. Of course, the dogs were in heaven, and Sherlock ran inside, so proud of himself, with a branch at least 5 times his size.
It took about 3 to 4 hours to prune this tree – that’s a ton for just one fruit tree. When we lived in our previous apartment we took care of the fruit trees, and pruning 5 fruit trees, for the first time in over 10 years, took 9-10 hours, with K’s family helping us for part of it.
K then had to cut up all of the branches so they’d fit into the garbage can, and that literally took him almost all day. He was finishing up around dinner time, and we started the whole tree trimming business at 8am.
We have dreams of a yard full of fruit and nut trees, and a garden, walkways, etc, and one day that dream will be our reality. Luckily, K knows what he’s doing, as I half help, half play with dogs/walk around with a camera.
The after results are pretty awesome. Hopefully we’ll have some nice apples this year. Last year, due to the tree being so overgrown they never got bigger than about half a fist, and they never fully ripened, so we aren’t even sure what type of apple tree it is yet.
The best part, is no more tree scraping against my window horror film style :]
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