Plums - Bear the majority of their fruit on vigorous spurs on wood two years or more old. When buying a new apple or pear always select plants with a good root system and sturdy stems, or buy mail order from a reputable nursery.. One-year-old trees are called ‘maidens’ and are sold as feathered or unfeathered. Feathered maidens are trees that developed side shoots from the main stem.This saves a year of formative pruning. How to Prune an Apple Tree. Click here to see pictures of a real one year old (maiden) apple tree before and after pruning. How to Prune Young Apple Trees. Take heart—it is almost impossible to kill a mature, overgrown apple tree by pruning it, and most of the complicated pruning takes place in the first three years of an apple tree's life. Veteran apple trees can still produce fruit after 50 or even 100 years. This decreases the demand on the roots of the young apple tree to provide water and nutrients to the new tree until it can get established. Follow these tips to pruning your apple tree so you can reap a bountiful harvest year after year. Winter pruning apple trees can be a daunting task. The black coloured side shoots should all be pruned by a third - see the thick black lines. Apple trees are the most common fruit trees home gardeners choose to grow. Cut the one-year old tree or whip to 30 inches from the ground just above a leaf bud. Buying apple and pear trees. Pruning is necessary in order to open up the tree canopy to sunlight and air circulation and promote fruit production and a healthy plant. Pruning an apple tree, much like pruning a peach tree, improves the tree's vigor and fruit production.It seems complicated, and many gardeners are apprehensive about tackling the task. Apple trees can remain healthy and productive for 50 years or more, but they need proper care and correct pruning. Apple trees are one of the few deciduous trees that will bounce back from a hard, single-year shortening. Old apple trees also provide habitat for wildlife including birds, bats and beneficial beetles. But there are lots more reasons to care for these trees. Prune from December to February. Learn how to prune and old apple trees in this blog & podcast. There are several points to consider when pruning an apple tree: distance from the central branch to a lateral branch before cutting, angle, leaving any water sprouts, shortening limbs or taking all the way down to the trunk of the apple tree, to name a few. PRUNE A TWO YEAR OLD TREE. But follow these simple tips and easy steps to keep your apple trees looking good and producing a great crop of apples each season. How to prune old or neglected apple trees. A light thinning out of small branches and twigs is needed each year to open up the tree and prevent declining fruit production in the inner area of the tree. The pink coloured parts of the tree show growth in the previous year, this should not be pruned. In most orchards, old trees or the ones that don’t bear much fruit are simply removed, but sometimes you may want to keep an apple tree around to improve the landscape, to try and improve the quality of the fruit or maybe it’s an apple tree that has sentimental value. Avoid heavy pruning which stimulates watersprout growth. On neglected or overly vigorous apple trees, prune heavily.