When to Prune Dwarf Apple Trees?

Planting Through First Season

• When first planted, young trees need to be pruned and trained so that they grow properly. At planting, a dwarf apple tree should be cut back to 2 or 2 1/2 feet above the soil to encourage growth, balance the tree and improve its strength. Remove any damaged or broken limbs. Damage to a tree can impede its growth and is an open invitation to bacteria, insects and fungi. Branches that are 4 to 6 inches long are ready for training, which allows the young branches to grow away from the central leader at the desired angle (more than 45 degrees, but less than 90 degrees). Train the tree using spring-loaded clothes pins to hold the branches away from the central leader (the main trunk branch) at the desired angle.

Second Season

• Remove the pins used to train your tree at the end of the first season. Prune all lateral branches growing below 18 inches, or any that grow below your planned first lateral branch. Remove limbs that grow at less than a 45-degree angle to the central leader. You want to keep about three or four branches, in addition to the central leader, allowing them to develop while pruning the rest away. Late winter and early spring (February or March) is a good time to perform maintenance pruning, and the central leader should be pruned back to 1 1/2 or 2 feet above the lower branches at this time. This will encourage further branching. Low branches can be pruned in summer as well.

Third and Fourth Seasons

• Around the third year it's time to being limb spreading. Limb spreading requires spreaders to be placed on the limbs, pushing them down and away from the central leader. This creates a pyramidal shape to the tree, so that it grows from a wide base to a narrow top, preparing the tree for the new growth above the current branches. Treat the new branches coming in as you would a second season tree, pruning away limbs to create 3 or 4 main limbs, and prune away branches that have less than 45-degree angles, basically creating a smaller pyramid atop the lower branches.

Annual Pruning

• Annual pruning, around March, is necessary to maintain the tree's pyramidal shape, to weed out unneeded or downward growing limbs, and to keep the upper tier from overshadowing the lower branches. Prune out limbs that rub or cross one another or that are broken or diseased. Pruning also increases the air circulation among the branches, allowing in more light as well as air and lowering the risks of fungal disease.

Neglected Trees

• Neglected trees may need a lot of pruning, but it's best to bring the tree into the proper shape over a period of years, rather than trying to do it all at once. You don't want to cause the tree trauma or shock, and pruning off large limbs all at once can do that. Prune away one or two large limbs per year until the tree is growing in the proper pyramidal shape, allowing light and air to reach all the branches.